


Red Thread Of Fate

by Saritha_h



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Consensual Underage Sex, End Game Ziam, End game Larry, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Harry-centric, Kink Discovery, M/M, OT5 Friendship (One Direction), POV Harry, Soulmates, This is a through the years story so bear with me, Underage Drinking, kind of slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:15:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saritha_h/pseuds/Saritha_h
Summary: The Red Thread of Fate also referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage, and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology. It is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are "their true love".The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break.Harry and Louis meet eachother when Louis moves to Cheshire and becomes Harry's new neighbor. This is their story.
Relationships: Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles & Original Male Character(s), Harry Styles & Taylor Swift, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne/Sophia Smith, Niall Horan/Hailee Steinfeld, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	1. There you are

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is my first fic, it is kind of based on a true love story. Please remember that at least at the beginning these are teenagers, reactions sometimes are over tthe top. There are things and emotions written here that are based on real life so please be respectful.
> 
> Leave comments and kudos please! ♡

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Red Thread of Fate also referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage, and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology. It is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are "their true love".
> 
> The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break.
> 
> Harry and Louis meet eachother when Louis moves to Cheshire and becomes Harry's new neighbor. This is their story.
> 
> \-------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ‘’Liam was right,’’ Louis said dropping his voice like sharing a secret.
> 
> ‘’What do you mean?’’ Harry asked confused.
> 
> ‘’You are very sweet indeed,’’ he said while dropping his gaze to Harry’s lips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is my first fic, it is kind of based on a true love story. Please remember that at least at the beginning these are teenagers, reactions sometimes are over the top. There are things and emotions written here that are based on real life so please be respectful. English is not my native lannguage so bare with my please >.<
> 
> Leave comments and kudos please! ♡
> 
> I hope everybody is staying safe and taking care of yourselves

  
  


Harry was just 15 years old but was already a strong believer of true love. His friends would describe him as sappy and naive but he was certain that everyone had a soulmate who they were meant to meet sooner or later. He really wanted it to be sooner for him though, he always found himself falling too fast and too hard even as young as he was. Born and raised in Holmes Chapel, his family was small but very closed. His mother Anne was a doctor, and his sister Gemma had to leave for London to attend Uni but was always in touch and supporting her baby brother. Even though his family was small he never felt alone, since he had the best and most supportive friends, Zayn, Niall, Liam, and Jamie, who all lived around the neighborhood, and went to school with him which made them kind of his brothers. 

Harry was all baby faced, green eyes, with adorable brown curls that he styled on a side swept bang, he knew how to charm even the coldest heart of them all, that much he was aware of. He was equally attracted by boys and girls, and it was no secret; when he couldn’t stop staring at his sisters male friends and was so blatantly obvious, Gemma and his mother decided to give him ‘The talk’, which he really didn’t need since the community was very open minded and all on board with sexual fluidity. Even though he knew he was attracted to them he had never had any encounters with another boy, not even a kiss. He had that boy-innocence that gave people the instinct to protect him at all cost and he didn’t even realise it. 

~·~

It was the beginning of the summer. The sun was bright and it was really warm.The wind was long gone making it harder to breathe.The classes had just finished and there was a feeling of expectation in the air. 

Harry was in the living room of his house, flat on his back on the black leather couch, wearing brown shorts. He was shirtless, his brown curls sticking on his forehead, sweat dripping out from the back of his neck as he faced the TV, throwing an eye on Niall and Zayn who were playing FIFA seated on the floor. And while Zayn seemed to be just as affected by the weather with a white tank top plastered with sweat and black shorts Niall seemed fresh as a cucumber completely unaffected by the high temperature around them. 

‘’I swear to you Niall, I’m kind of hating you right now,’’ Zayn whined while trying to keep sweat from coming to his eyes. Zayn had the most expressive hazelnut brown eyes, the longest eyelashes known in history, beautiful full lips that made him look like he was constantly pouting, short straight black hair that he usually styled on a quiff and generally very thin complexion. 

‘’Mate you two are just weak! there is nothing better than summer!’’ Niall exclaimed. He had blue eyes rounding on electric just as his personality, he had blond-dyed hair, thin lips, the brightest smile (even with braces) that seemed to be stuck on his face almost all the time. 

‘’Shut up! You are just simply not human, I just know it... Here’s an idea, we could we give that pool of yours a good use, what do you say Ni?’’ Harry requested, batting his eyelashes and portraying that big bambi eyes he knew well melted hearts. 

‘’Oh common H i’m kicking Zayn's ass as we’re speaking you can’t do this to me!’’ Niall groaned with an air of annoyance. 

‘’I’ll tell you what, there is no ass to be kicked because I’m leaving with H you can stay and play all by yourself mate I cannot stand being here any longer. I feel like I’m about to melt into a puddle of sweat and is not a nice feeling,’’ Zayn replied while standing up extending a hand for Niall to join. 

‘’Fine! But this means I won!’’ Niall told him while turning off the console. 

The three of them left practically skipping, buzzing on the expectation of dipping in the cool water of the pool. When they were crossing the street to go to Niall’s house they saw what it seemed to be their new neighbours carrying boxes. Holmes Chapel was a small town and everyone knew each other, _meaning_ that news about the old married couple who had lived there moving out, and a new family moving in spread like a virus. Everyone wanted to know who the new family was.. 

‘’Have you heard anything about the new neighbours?’’ Harry asked curiosity taking the best of him.

‘’I heard it is a big family but nothing more than that, why?’’ Niall questioned while trying to cover his eyes from the sun. 

‘’Just curious I guess, I really liked the old couple that used to live there,’’ Harry answered remembering the sweet old lady who he used to talk to from time to time. 

‘’You’re so weird mate, think that maybe, if it is a big family we can make some new friends,’’ Zayn stated eyeing Harry like he grew a second head. 

‘’Heeeey,’’ Harry exclaimed ‘’Don’t judge me they were nice people,’’ he said offended ‘’Anyways lads what is the plan for today? It’s a good day to have some fun and I think everyone would appreciate it if we come up with something.’’ 

‘’You’re just saying that because you want a chance to spend your time with your beloved girlfriend don’t think you fool us H,’’ Niall said with an accusatory but amused look. 

‘’Harry is so in loooove,’’ Zayn sing sang, cackling hard. 

‘’Well I would like to enjoy my summer with her and my lads, what is wrong with that?’’ Harry said acting mad but they all knew there was no heat behind. 

‘’I was actually planning to tell you guys, I’m throwing a party at my house. My parents are gone to visit my granny and we have the house to ourselves,’’ Niall said completely ignoring Harry’s question rolling his eyes to him. 

Niall’s family was from Ireland, he was usually forced to spend his whole summer vacation there but this was the first one his parents trusted him not to burn the house down, and he got to decide when he wanted to leave to spend time with his family in Ireland. 

‘’Now that's what I’m talking about!’’ Zayn yelled, giving Niall a high five. 

‘’Good! I will text Tay and see if she can come to join us to start setting everything up,’’ Harry exclaimed, excited already thinking about spending the day with his girlfriend. 

Harry and Taylor started their relationship only two months before the end of term but he already felt head over heels for her. She was sweet, lovely with his family, committed and also two years older than him. She had a brother and sister both younger than her, he got along with them perfectly and that made him very excited given the hopeless romantic soul that he had. She had long straight blonde hair, blue eyes and thin lips. She was a little bit taller than him but he didn’t mind, he thought they were perfect for eachother. He was also nervous though, it was always the same with every relationship he had, he would be so smitten for them, feel so in love (or at least that was what he always thought) and then it wouldn’t last more than 3 months. It was always his fault, either he was too tactile with his friends and his partners wouldn’t stand it getting too jealous, or they always said he was too intense. That never made him give up though, he was sure there was someone who could put up with the way he loves, deep and intense. This time he was sure he had found love he could feel it. 

Harry took his phone and texted Taylor: 

**Me:**

***Tay there is a party today at Niall’s. Do you mind coming and helping us arrange everything? I kinda miss you x.***

**Love:**

***Sure H I’ll take a shower and go. See you in a bit x.***

‘’She’s coming in a few minutes so we should have another pair of hands helping us soon.’’ Harry voiced trying to hide his excitement. 

~·~

Niall’s house was the biggest one of all the boys. It had a huge living room with a plasma TV on the wall, a big three-seat white sofa just in front with a black coffee table in front. The decor was very minimalistic; all black and white with silver metallic touches giving it an air of elegance and tidiness that contrasted with Niall's personality which was loud and messing around all the time. At the end of the living room there was a glass door looking out to the pool which covered half of the massive back yard. The boys had brought a table out from the basement and set it against the wall at the side of the pool, laying it with a few bottles of Vodka and Tequila. They also got a huge stereo set up next to it which was now playing _Sexy B*tch from David Guetta_ softly just to make background party noise.

They started things off by filling some bowls with chips and dips. Zayn was by the stereo creating a playlist that could satisfy everyone’s taste, and Harry was left with the duty of texting all their friends who were more than up for a day of fun. When they already had everything set and ready for the guests to arrive Harry received a few texts from friends letting him know that they would be there soon. He ignored almost all of them scrolling down expecting to see a text from his girlfriend. He was about to lock his phone again disappointment filling his gut when his phone pinged with a new text. 

‘’Guys Liam just texted me that he met the new neighbour’s son, he wants to know if he can bring him. He says the lad is laid back and a lot of fun, what do you say Ni?’’ Harry asked re reading the text to Niall. 

‘’Sure Haz! The more the merrier!. We have an excuse to party now, we would give him a welcome celebration,’’ Niall said with the enthusiasm that was so characteristic of him while making a little dance with no rhythm when he said the last part. 

Harry blinked amused while staring at Niall. ‘’That’s the spirit!" he said before bringing his attention back to his phone. "Oh, by the way, Jamie's here, lads. I’m gonna open the door for him and leave it open because everyone is about to arrive anyways,’’ he added, walking to the door still smiling at Niall.

‘’Wasn’t Taylor supposed to be here like 30 minutes ago H?’’ Zayn questioned giving a confused look to Harry. 

Harry's smile immediately disappeared but he tried to maintain a neutral appearance ‘’Yeah, I guess she is just running late.’’ Harry said with a bit of disappointment in his voice that he tried but failed to cover. He went to the door and gave Jamie a one armed hug. 

‘’How are you H? is everyone here yet?’’ Jamie asked after giving him a kiss on the cheek watching his surroundings. He was the tallest of the group, he had light brown short hair,light blue eyes, very masculine jaw that made him look older and more serious on the group which was not far from the truth he always was the mediator on the rare cases when friendly fights got nasty or out of hand, he was also the one with the most serious relationship, his girlfriend, Caroline, lived in London and was an Uni student, meaning she was five years older than him.

‘’I’m good. You’re the first actually, we’re just waiting for everyone to get here’’. Harry answered distractedly, his mind was elsewhere thinking why Taylor hadn’t arrived yet. He turned around and left Jamie to his devices. 

~·~

People started to arrive 15 minutes later. 

Harry was on his first drink of orange juice with vodka when he finally saw Taylor arrived looking casual with a white tank top, a really short jean skirt and flip flops on. Harry felt instantly happier and rushed to greet her.

‘’Hi love! Missed you.’’ Harry pecked her lips and gave her a tight hug. 

‘’Hi H! Sorry I took so long, I had to wait for mum so the little ones weren’t alone.’’ Taylor explained while hugging him just as tight. 

‘’That’s ok no worries, you’re here now. Do you want something to drink?’’ Harry asked attentive as always. 

‘’No worries sweetie, I’ll just go and serve myself,’’ Taylor gave him a small smile, disattaching from the hug. ‘’Go and mingle with your friends H, I will find you in a bit.’’ She gave him another quick peck and continued to the table where the drinks were, without waiting for an answer. 

Harry watched her go and just figured his girlfriend wanted him to enjoy his time with his friends, so he just turned on his heels and followed her outside but to find his friends trying not to make a big deal out of it. 

“Everything okay babes?” Zayn asked while sliding a hand on his waist.

“ _Peachy_ ,” Harry replied with a toothy grin trying his best to ignore the strange behavior of his girlfriend he had to learn how to give people space, he hated when he started to be annoying.

“You know you can’t fool me H I-"

“Don't,” Harry cut him off. “please let’s just enjoy ourselves for a bit, let’s dance Zaynie,” he took him by the hand and dragged him to the improvised dance floor on the living room.

The house was packed it was barely five in the afternoon but they were the main attraction on the neighborhood, almost all the students off their high school were there. They made their way through the crowd and started dancing and goofing around.

“Do you reckon Li’s already here?” Zayn asked, trying to be nonchalant.

“Don’t know Zee there are so many people here. Why are you getting all angsty?” Harry asked, smirking already enjoying the busted expression on his best friend.

“Shut up! What I am is thirsty so I'mma serve myself a drink be right back babes,” Zayn rushed to say, almost running out of his friend knowing look.

“But I am the sappy one,” Harry muttered to himself.

“Talking alone Harree? How much have you had to drink?” Liam joked, as he approached Harry and hugged him. He was one of his good friends from an older class, he had everyone’s respect with his tough appearance but Harry was one of the few who knew that Liam was just an oversized puppy all brown deep eyes, short brown hair and beautiful complexion. It was the broad back, tough muscles and boxing lessons that scared people though.

“Sorry we’re late. I was helping Louis with some boxes, since his mother is very pregnant and they needed a hand,”

“We? Louis? What are you talking about Li?” Harry asked, thinking about the terrible timing of Liams arrival and his best mate who would be more than excited if he hadn’t just ran away a minute before.

“O right, sorry! Louis come here!” Liam yelled to his left, extending a hand and pulling a guy by his arm, dragging him in front of Harry. “H, this is Louis, -the new guy in town-, Louis this is Harry, one of my best mates.” 

The guy was the same height of Harry, had brown feathery hair that he styled on a fringe the most beautiful deep ocean blue eyes he had ever seen in his short life, a button cute nose, his lips were very thin but appealing and almost cherry natural colored, he was biting his bottom lip like he was nervous. Harry continued scanning him from head to toe. The guy - _Louis_ \- Harry reminded himself, was wearing a black tank top with the arm holes ripped until the ribs showcasing his thin waist and caramel looking skin; the tightest black skinny jeans that clinged to his thick thighs, when Harry eyed Louis’ black Van’s he realized he had been staring far too long to be socially acceptable, he snapped his head back to the man’s face who now was smirking at him.

Louis extended his right hand to greet Harry “Nice to meet ya mate, Louis Tomlinson." And Harry swore he had never heard such a raspy but high pitch voice. He didn’t understand why but he was mesmerized like he was in a trance.

Harry shook his hand and had to remind himself that this is the part where he was supposed to say his name. “Harry Styles… uh, welcome to the neighborhood mate. Hope you enjoy your way around and make it your home,” he told him, still shaking his hand. When he realized this he dropped it like it burned him.Trying to manage a grin that looked more like a grimace, all he could think was that he needed to get a grip, it made no sense for him to be this nervous. He was usually used to charming people’s pants off left to right, but this boy with those eyes that were charged with something he couldn’t quite pinpoint, just made him rather nervous.

“Have you seen the lads, H? Ni or Zayn?” Liam asked, snapping Harry out of his train of thought.

“Zayn actually just left to refill his drink and said he was coming back.” he answered, talking to Liam but his eyes were still on Louis.

“I think I'mma look for them. I brought some things that I need to put outside anyways, do you mind showing Louis around the house and maybe introducing him around?” Liam asked his friend, looking between Louis and Harry completely oblivious of the charged gazes that were being shared.

At that Harry snapped his head so fast it almost gave him whiplash he didn’t know what it was about this guy that made him so nervous but he doubted the situation would improve if he was left alone with him. Just when he opened his mouth to answer Louis beat him to it.

“Yeah no problem mate, I'm a big boy go ahead, thank you again for today and for helping me mom,” Louis sounded genuine while tapping Liam's shoulder. “I'm sure young Harold here can show me how you lads have fun," he said turning his gaze to Harry again smirking completely unashamedly.

“No problem mate anytime,” Liam smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ll be fine with Harry he’s the sweetest guy I know, see you later lads.” he finished the last par walking backwards and gesturing goodbye with his left hand.

They both kept watching Liam until he was no longer visible in the crowd. Harry was internally scolding himself, he was being ridiculous, he had a girlfriend who he was very in love with, he felt bad by feeling nervous around this guy he didn’t know a thing about.

‘’So are you going to show me around? Or are we going to be standing here all night long?’’ Louis asked, taking Harry out of his trance with a playful tone, smirk still in place.

‘’Y-yeah.. Sorry… I mean yeah.. Do you want me to, um, maybe, give you a tour of the house while introducing you to people?’’ He stuttered, trying to regain confidence and avoiding his gaze to drop on Louis smirk.

‘’Nah it’s ok, too early for that, it’s more fun getting to know people when they’re drunk. Would you like to dance Harry?’’ Louis asked while extending a hand, his voice more soothing with seductive eyes.

Harry knew this kind of look, he being able to portray it perfectly when he wanted, he was a flirter by nature. So logically, he knew this was the perfect time to say ‘no thank you I have a girlfriend’ he was a flirt, but never a cheater and he didn’t want to be dramatic, or too full of himself but he could feel Louis intentions like waves.

‘’It’s just a dance mate, I don’t bite I promise,’’ Louis teased with his hand still waiting for Harry.

‘ _Okay you can have a friendly dance there is nothing wrong with that_ ’ - Harry thought. - ‘’Sure.’’ Harry gave him his hand and let Louis put him a little closer.

They started to dance each one with a drink in hand. Louis scanned Harry who was still shirtless and smiled. ‘’A little bit early for nudity don’t you think?’’ 

Harry looked down at himself and then back to Louis ‘’Not really, I was just helping the guys to set everything up and it was too hot, and is a pool party anyways so I was bound to take my shirt off.’’ He replied, shrugging and waving him of.

‘’Fair enough,’’ Louis replied after taking a long drink from his cup ‘’Liam told me I’m going to be in his class. Does this mean we are going to be classmates then, young Harold?’’ He asked while looking around seeming to be analyzing people around him.

‘’It’s just Harry,’’ Harry said, rolling his eyes even though Louis couldn’t see him because he was not looking directly at him. ‘’And no, I’m two years younger than Liam, only a year behind in class though, I started very young at school.’’ Harry started to ramble and he was asking himself why did he have to give such an unnecessary amount of information for a rather simple question. He needed another drink.

At that Louis snapped his head back at Harry, his blue eyes boring into Harry’s green ones. He took another tiny step towards him and continued dancing. ‘’Oh I see, you’re a baby then. The baby of the group, I figure everyone around you spoils you.’’

‘’Oh my god, you're two years older than me, tops, don’t be dramatic,’’Harry snorted sarcastically. ‘’And why you have to assume that everybody pampers me? It could be the opposite you know? I could be mature for my age.’’ he added rather offended by Louis banter. 

‘’Touchy touchy,’’ Louis smirked and held his hands in the air, signaling that he surrendered ‘’I’m just kidding of course, tell me more about yourself and how is it that you and Liam get along in the same group if you’re not in the same class.

Harry stared at him for a few seconds, stopping his dancing for a moment, and deciding to just ignore the fact that Louis’ irrational words were really getting him mad. He had to repeat to himself over again he was a stranger - a cheeky one it seemed- but nothing more than that.

‘’We’ve known eachother forever, Liam and I. Our mothers are good friends. His father travels a lot for work, so my mom used to help babysit Liam when we were toddlers. Plus my mom’s a doctor so when _she_ couldn’t find someone to take care of _me_ and _my sister_ on her night shifts we would stay at Liam’s. He is practically my brother.’’ Harry explained while gesturing with his hands with a fond smile in place, mentally travelling back to those days. ‘’What about you though? Li said that your mom is pregnant? That is awesome.’’ 

It was Louis’ turn to smile, crinkles forming by his eyes. ‘’Yeah, yeah it is quite nice. That is why we had to move, actually. We needed a bigger house with the babies coming, and Mark happened to find a new job here so we had to leave Doncaster anyway. I have two little sisters as well, Charlotte and Felicite.’’

‘’Babies??... Plural? as more than one?’’ Harry asked, excitement filling his voice.

Louis laughed at Harry’s reaction, and that sent a wave of electricity to Harry who had a smile that almost split his face in two.

‘’Yes, she’s having twins actually is quite exciting. I get you’re a fan of babies yourself,” he asked amused.

‘’Yes, I love babies!’’ Harry answered, suddenly aware that he could feel Louis’ breath on his face. He didn’t realize the boy was getting closer and closer during the conversation.

‘’Liam was right,’’ Louis said dropping his voice like sharing a secret.

‘’What do you mean?’’ Harry asked confused.

‘’You are very sweet indeed,’’ he said while dropping his gaze to Harry’s lips

‘’I have a girlfriend,’’ Harry blurted, nervous and starting to sweat. He didn’t really know if it was because of the temperature or the fact that Louis was staring at his bottom lip like a juicy piece of steak.

Louis snorted and shook his head. ‘’Okay?... Chill Harold I’m not proposing.’’

‘’I know but this is not okay. You’re standing too close, we’ve been dancing for god knows how long and..’’

‘’Oh God breathe, Harry she doesn’t have to know,’’ Louis interrupted Harry’s rambling, stepping just that much closer.

Startled at that, Harry took two steps back with wide eyes while shaking his head. ‘’What are you implying? Look, I know you don’t know me at all. But this is definitely not okay. I’m sorry Louis but I’m going to go look for my girlfriend. Enjoy the party.’’ 

With that, he turned his back to Louis and started searching through the crowd for Taylor. He felt guilty even though he didn’t really do anything wrong. He knew why he felt that way though. Because he didn't run away from Louis because he was offended like he showed him but because he was tempted. Something that had never happened to him before. 

~·~

He found his way to the backyard, and saw a few steps ahead, Taylor with a drink in her hand, talking to the others. She was next to Niall who was laughing at something Jamie (who was in front of Niall) apparently said, since he was the one talking. Next to Jamie was Liam,and Zayn, who had his normal bored look on. Harry stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, knowing he was very bad at hiding his emotions. And if his friends got a look at him right now they would see a very panicked Harry and he didn’t want to have to explain why, especially since he didn’t understand it himself.

He then decided to take a couple of shots to relax a little bit. He wasn’t used to drinking that much since he was underage, and he knew he could get in trouble with his mom but he didn’t really care at that moment.

He was pouring himself a shot of Tequila when he felt a hand on his back. He nearly jumped out of his skin splashing Tequila on his belly ‘’Fuck!’’ 

‘’Hey hey H, what’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost’’ Zayn asked while running his hand on Harry’s shoulder in a soothing way.

‘’Oh thank God!’’ he whispered to himself and noticeably relaxing, he turned facing Zayn ‘’Nothing Zee, you just scared the shit out of me,’’ Harry said and then took the shot and gulped it down.

‘’Wow hey, easy Harry, we’re just getting started. I won’t be the one carrying you home,’’ Zayn laughed ‘’Come join us, Taylor’s been asking for you,’’ he said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Harry felt butterflies in his belly at that, forgetting immediately that he was panicking just a couple of minutes ago, _and_ the reason behind as well. He felt his cheeks getting warmer as he smiled. ‘’Yeah sure, let’s go.’’ He turned to the table again and quickly poured himself another cup with orange juice and vodka.

They walked together and joined the others who were currently planning their summer and sort of _group dancing_ at the same time.

The music was getting louder and Harry could feel the atmosphere of the party getting wilder he reached Taylor from behind taking her in a hug placing his head on her right shoulder lacing his fingers with hers, the palm of his hand to the back of hers. They both had their drinks on the left. She extended her neck to the left giving him better space to snuggle her into it.

Harry placed a couple of kisses on her neck and smiled ‘’Hi beautiful.’’

‘’Haz! you were gone for so long! Where were you?’’ Taylor slurred, clearly already affected by alcohol.

‘’That is actually my fault, sorry Tay, I asked him to show Louis around the house,’’ Liam answered. before Harry had a chance to even think of an answer.

‘’Who?’’ she asked with a confused frown.

‘’Louis, Louis Tomlinson.’’ Louis said, walking in and joining the semi circle they had. ‘’It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My family and I just finished moving in today.’’ 

Harry felt all his blood drain from his face and he was glad that Taylor couldn’t see his expression. He turned his eyes - wide like a deer caught by the lights -, but not his face to Louis, and saw him extending his hand and introducing himself to the group, leaving Taylor for last.

‘’So you must be the girlfriend Harry here talked about,’’ Louis said shaking Taylor’s hand, which made Harry drop his hand to her hip. He was talking to her but looking straight into Harry’s eyes.

‘’Well I’d sure hope so,’’ she joked. ‘’I’m Taylor, is very nice to meet you! Are you going to be in our class?’’ 

‘’I guess not, I will be with Liam in year 12 class but Harry already told me he’s in year 11,’’ Louis said matter-of- factly.

Taylor smirked and brought a hand to Harry’s right cheek, caressing it sweetly. Louis’ eyes followed the motion. ‘’I’m actually also in year 12, so we’ll probably be in the same class. It’s a small school after all.’’

Louis looked rather surprised at that, his mouth opened on a small ‘o’ as his eyes snapped to look at Harry, who was also wearing an amused smirk and raising one eyebrow, feeling quite pleased with himself.

‘’Don’t let H’s baby face fool you mate. He’s rather used to have older friends, and most of them are his sister Gemma’s age or even older,’’Jamie quipped, gently smacking Louis’ shoulder.

At Louis’ lost expression Harry added, ‘’My older sister, she’s 21,’’ gesturing with his right hand, replacing it on his girlfriend hip afterwards.

~·~

They continued talking and group dancing for hours, taking turns to refill everyone’s drinks. Louis blended in the group like he belonged, making jokes and being part of the conversation. As the night progressed, everyone sat forming a circle, with Harry placing himself next to Taylor. There were people occasionally entering and exiting the circle as they acquainted themselves with the new, attractive charmer.

Louis was loud, energetic, and sarcastic, with a sharp tongue. He seemed to be very self confident with the type of energy that kind of made people gravitate toward him. Harry could see how he became the center of attention without even trying. Even his girlfriend seemed mesmerized by him but Harry couldn’t find it in him to really care. He wasn’t particularly the jealous type.

It was nearly midnight and Niall was in the middle of a story when Harry saw Liam’s -who was now in front of him- expression change, his eyes wide and his face fighting not to smile. He refocused to Louis, whose eyes were narrowed, with a small smile taking his features. Harry frowned at the two and was about to turn his face when he felt a pair of strong hands taking him by the waist and dragging him away from the group. And before he knew it, he was being thrown into the pool.

‘’What the nghhff!’’ He suddenly felt cold water enveloping him. He pushed his head up to the surface, taking a deep breath, with his hair all over his face, feeling like a drenched rat. The first thing he was able to hear clearly were both Niall's and Louis’ loud laugh. He took his hair out of his face and saw Calum’s face at the border of the pool, red from laughing so hard with Harry's phone in hand.

‘’You should see your face, Harry, it’s hilarious!!’’ Calum said, bent with laughter.

‘’Well, I guess this means it’s pool time!!’’ Taylor said taking her clothes out leaving her bikini on and jumping into the pool. She swam the short distance to Harry and took him on a hug. ‘’Hi baby,’’ she said on a seductive tone.

‘’Hello to you beautiful,’’ he took her by her thighs while she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, taking one hand through his hair and the other one softly caressing his spine. He closed the distance between them and kissed her sweet and chaste, enjoying the taste of her lips strong from the vodka and sweet from her lipstick. She pulled his hair and deepened the kiss moaning.

They got lost in their little bubble, kissing and hugging. The others joking and playing around, leaving them alone. 

After a few minutes of kissing, Taylor seemed to get impatient. ‘’Baby, why don’t we go to the bedroom?’’ she whispered.

‘’Taylor, you’re drunk,’’ he said also whispering, suddenly serious as he looked her in the eyes.

‘’I know what I’m doing Harry, please let’s go somewhere private?’’ she slurred, pouting.

‘’I’m sorry baby, but we are not doing anything, not while you’re this drunk.’’ He told her while slowly disattaching her off of him.

‘’I can feel you’re hard you know? And it’s making me crazy,’’ she said a little bit louder while pressing her thigh to Harry’s bulge.

Harry felt a couple of heads turning their way and everything went suspiciously less loud.‘’Babe please, let’s get you home. We’ll talk when you’re sober tomorrow,’’ he whispered.

She looked at him for a moment, her sensual demeanor changing completely. Her cheeks turning redder, she pursed her lips and furrowed her brows ‘’Fine!’’ she yelled pushing him ‘’I’m going home.’’ She turned abruptly and went to the pool ladder avoiding everybody’s stare.

‘’I’ll be back guys. I’m walking Tay home to make sure she gets safe,’’ he said, talking to no one specifically as he climbed out after her.

‘’What a gentleman,’’ he heard Louis’ sarcastic voice behind him. Harry flipped him off without turning to see him and heard Niall’s laugh. 

Once out of the pool, he tried to adjust himself as subtle as possible because - yes, of course he was hard- but no, it was neither the time nor the place for his first time. He knew it was silly but he wanted it to be special and that did not include his girlfriend being almost blackout drunk. He also knew it wasn’t Taylor’s first time and that made him feel that much more pressure. 

He had to speed up his steps because Taylor grabbed her clothes without putting them on went to leave the house.

‘’Baby wait for me please. I don’t want your parents to see you coming home drunk and alone!’’ He rushed to her side.

‘’Don’t touch me Harry, I’m an independent woman. I can take care of myself thank you very much," she said, stepping out of his reach walking briskly. 

He kept walking beside her but didn’t dare to reach her hand. He kept quiet while they walked the two blocks left to her house that was actually situated next to the Tomlinson's house. They went to a full stop in front of the door where she took a deep breath and faced Harry.

‘’Look, we’ll talk tomorrow. Please don’t text me tonight, I’m not in the mood, I just want to sleep,’’ she said, almost whispering, looking much more sober. She gave him a quick peck and then entered her house, leaving him without a glance.

Harry felt tired all of sudden and started to walk back to Niall’s, thinking he was going to sneak straight to his guest room and get some sleep. As he approached the house he noticed Louis leaning on the door frame watching him with a cup in hand. Hair damp and body still wet, Louis stared at him with what seemed to be worry clouding his expression.

‘’Are you ok Harry? You look terrible,’’ Louis said as Harry drew nearer, sympathy clear in his tone.

‘’Why, thank you mate,’’ Harry answered with a sarcastic frown. He sat on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Niall's house, while rubbing his face with his hands, feeling on the verge of tears with frustration. 

‘’Hey, you know what I mean,” Louis explained, as he sat down next to Harry. “What happened? You seemed to be having a good time,’’ he said, lowering his voice as he placed a hand on his knee.

‘’And I _was_ but she got too drunk and it was getting to be too much…’’ Harry’s voice cracked on the last two words. He raised his head and blinked rapidly. ‘’ ‘m sorry, I don’t want to ruin your mood. Don’t mind me, you can just leave. I’ll be fine,’’ he said, avoiding Louis’ gaze. 

‘’Look I've wanted to tell you this since I saw how you reacted to me earlier…" he paused and took a deep breath."I’m sorry if I came out too strong, yeah?’’ Louis said, drawing circles on Harry’s knee with his thumb. ‘’But don’t get the wrong idea, we can be friends… I mean… Unless you want me to call Liam or Zayn if you don’t trust me... I wouldn’t be offended, I get it, we just met...’’ He stammered dropping his hand to his side. He was in the process of standing up when Harry suddenly grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him back down.

‘’No, it’s ok you can stay if you want,’’ Harry said, looking him in the eye with a small smile surfacing on his face, not enough to pop up his dimples, but enough to brighten the mood between them. ‘’It’s just…’’ He took a deep breath and pressed his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger. ‘’I know it’s silly but sex is important to me. I’ve never done it before and I want it to be special...’’ he said, almost whispering, feeling his cheeks burn from embarrassment with his gaze now fixed on the floor.

‘’It _is_ silly…’’ Louis cut him off, looking at him rather serious as he adjusted himself more comfortably on the sidewalk.

Harry released Louis’ hand that he didn’t realize was still holding, feeling his neck getting red but this time from anger. He was about to snap at Louis but the boy raised his hands and continued.

‘’Just hear me out yeah?” he started and waited for Harry to nod reluctantly ‘’You’re so young Harry, and I get that I don’t know you but I can already tell that you want a fairytale life. And I’m sorry to tell you this mate, but that is not how life works… Most of the time, people wait to have their first time with someone special and end up with a broken heart afterwards, you’re too young to want real, forever-lasting love, or to recognize it anyway. You’re passionate and maybe feel like everything bad that happens to you is the end of the world and you wish everything good would last till the end of your days, I can already see you’re so naive, and I don’t mean it in a bad way but you’ll end up hurt if you always relate sex with love.’’ He finished his speech while looking at him straight to the eye waiting for a reaction.

Harry let his words sink into his brain and he did not like it. Especially because, yes, he was indeed waiting for someone special. Someone who he felt it was right to lose his virginity with but he didn’t like how easy it was for Louis to read him like an open book, and it annoyed him that he was talking like he was so much older and wiser than him. His words irked him because deep within him he also knew the lad could be right.

‘’You’re right…’’ he said slowly, voice deeper than ever. ‘’You don’t know me.’’ He deadpanned and stood up, turning on his heels, ready to go home. He didn’t want to face Louis or anyone else for the remainder of the night. He just wanted to crawl under his duvet and sleep away the headache that was starting to take form. ‘’Please tell the others I went home. I don’t want them to worry,’’ he added without looking back.

He walked on, paying close attention to make sure nobody was following him and then started jogging home, wanting to get there as soon as possible.

~·~

After a couple of minutes he reached his house, and as smoothly as he could he opened his front door, locking it behind him. All the lights were off, which meant his mother was already sleeping, and he walked past the living room until he reached the hallway where three rooms and a bathroom were. He decided to brush his teeth and take a quick shower to rinse the chlorine from his body, he put a pair of black briefs on and decided to go to sleep like that. And by the time he dropped in bed and connected his phone to the charger, he heard the sound of a text come out. He figured it was one of the boys making sure he got home safe. But when he opened the text he saw it was from an unknown number.

**Unknown:**

***I’m sorry, I’m pretty bad at biting my tongue. I honestly meant to help you***

_Another beep_

**Unknown:**

***I hope you still give me a chance to be your friend. Good night Harry***

He didn’t need Louis to identify himself to know it was him. He read the texts multiple times feeling the anger leave his body, something he wasn't able to name replacing it. Without replying to the texts, he placed his phone on the nightstand and soon fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me your thoughts and comments.


	2. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘’Are you still drunk, Harold?’’ Harry heard Louis’ high pitch sarcastic voice coming from the other end of the living room. And he didn’t see that coming. When Niall said ‘’the lads stayed here last night.’’ It didn’t even cross his mind that Louis was part of the equation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big shout-out to Joydilouis86 who has helped me a lot with this fic and encouraged me to finally make it public.
> 
> Once again I remind whoever is reading this that this is my first time writing at all and that the main characters are based on real people and most of them real situations.
> 
> Also be aware that this will be only Harry's POV.
> 
> Enjoy, leave your comments and your Kudos.
> 
> All the love!! <3

Harry was fast asleep, hair looking wild like a nest, his face plastered on the pillow, dry drool on his left cheek when he was abruptly awoken by the incessant sound of his phone. He growled rolling on the bed refusing to open his eyes. He outstretched his hand taking his phone from the nightstand blindly, he accepted the call without checking who it was.

‘’Mmggff,’’ Harry mumbled to let whoever it was know that he was listening.

‘’Morning sunshine!’’ A thick Irish accent came from the other end. Loud, _too loud_ and chirpy for Harry’s liking.

‘’Oh my god I’m gonna kill you,’’ Harry yawned. He felt his head starting to pound and his mouth dry. He opened one eye to look at the clock on his nightstand and immediately regretted it. He forgot to close his curtains the night before and the light that slipped in through the window felt like daggers stabbing his eye. He growled louder this time. ‘’It’s fucking nine in the morning, Niall! What did I ever do to you?’’ 

‘’Cheer up Haz! Get up and get your ass in here, the lads stayed here last night and we’re doing a movie marathon, you’re the only one missing.’’ Niall said sounding annoyingly full of energy.

The events from the night before came flooding to Harry. The fight with Taylor, he needed to talk to her and sort things out, the conversation that went wrong with Louis, coming home fuming to receive an apologetic message, he was still pretty confused about that, but he guessed there was not point on overthinking it even more when he already had so much on his plate, he didn’t even know when he was going to see Louis again anyways, - _I will think about that later-_ he decided. Harry facepalmed and sighed, - _of course_ \- he remembered, he was supposed to sleepover at Niall’s.

‘’How aren’t you hungover?’’ Harry complained while planting his feet on the floor. He rubbed his face with the hand that wasn’t holding the phone.

‘’Stop whining and fucking get here!’’ he heard Jamie's’ voice on the background.

‘’Oh lord! Okay, fine! Just please stop screaming,’’ Harry said finally getting up and walking to the bathroom scratching his ass cheek. ‘’Gimme 20 minutes.’’ he added and ended the call.

He had his morning wee, brushed his teeth, splashed cold water on his face feeling the grogginess rushing out of his system. He then faced the mirror. ‘’Jesus!’’ he shouted-whispered under his breath. He was paler than usual, he had bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking out in every direction, curlier than ever.

Harry walked out of the bathroom to the kitchen, reaching a glass from the kitchen drawer and poured water into it. He gulped the glass of water in one go and then noticed a pink sticky note placed on fridge he took it and read it.

-Haz I took a double turn at the hospital today, I won't be coming home tonight, please text me if you’re staying the night with any of the boys. Call me if you need anything. 

Love, Mom. - 

He placed back the sticky note making a mental note to himself to ask Liam if he could stay over tonight and then went back to his bedroom feeling a little bit more human. He put a pair of gray baggy joggers on, a black tank top, a pair of black sneakers and took a black snapback and wore it backwards. He took his phone, his wallet and his keys and walked out of the house.

~·~

Harry walked the distance to Niall's house calmly, still feeling a little bit tired and dizzy. The temperature was rising but unlike the day before it was cloudy and the humidity was strong making him feel that much heavier. He arrived five minutes after and without announcing himself he went to open the door, he knew the guys would be waiting for him.

‘’Honey I’m hoome!’’ Harry sing sang, he took his shoes out and placed them next to the door, and walked into the living room. He immediately felt the cool air from the AC making him feel goosebumps.

‘’Our saviour!’’ Jamie dramatically screamed, taking Harry in a bear hug and lifting him up from the floor and shaking him.

‘’Jamie!!’’ Harry spoke out of breath ‘’J you’re gonna make me puke, please put me down.’’ he felt the dizziness coming back full force and when Jamie finally put him down he had to grab his arm to steady himself and closed his eyes tightly.

‘’Are you still drunk, Harold?’’ Harry heard Louis’ high pitch sarcastic voice coming from the other end of the living room. And he didn’t see _that_ coming. When Niall said _‘’the lads stayed here last night.’’_ It didn’t even cross his mind that Louis was part of the equation.

The teasing tone in Louis voice made a rush of memory hit Harry just then. the dancing, the flirting, how nervous this boy could make him feel; he had left the party furious with him yesterday, but when he sent him those texts he didn’t know how to react to that. He was not a person that held grudges. Now that he had Louis in front of him (well behind to be more exact) he didn’t know how to interact with him. Should he address those texts? Or was it better if he just acted like their last conversation didn’t happen at all?.

Harry opened his eyes and slowly turned to face the boy, letting go of Jamie’s arm. He rolled his eyes at Louis’ smug expression and didn’t humour him with an answer _-cold shoulder it is then-_ he thought. ‘’What are you on about, Jamie?’’ he asked, turning back his attention to his friend.

If Jamie was able to notice Harry’s inner turmoil he didn’t say anything. ‘’Niall and Louis are trying to poison us, Haz. We’re famished and they almost burned the kitchen down making toast!’’ Jamie explained with an over dramatic tone in his voice, placing both hands on Harry’s shoulders shaking him to emphasize his horror.

‘’J it can’t be that bad-’’ Hary started but Jamie stopped him.

"-It is I swear! Go take a look, I dare you to go and take a bite at one of the toasts they made, I guarantee you’ll lose a tooth,’’ Jamie rushed while gesturing like a maniac.

‘’Oi!’’ Louis protested.

Harry cackled with laughter at that, slapping his hand on his mouth to muffle the sound. ‘’That’s why you called me then? To use me as your cook?’’ He asked placing both hands on his hips with a slope sided smile.

‘’Nah, we were missing you Haz!’’ Niall voice came from the kitchen. ‘’C’mere and give a cuddle!’’ he demanded.

Harry walked passed Jamie, taking in his surroundings for the first time that morning, the living room had already been cleaned. He then spotted Liam sitting on the couch dozing off with Zayn’s head on his lap. He came to a full stop and just planted a wet kiss on Liam’s temple. He could feel Louis’ hot gaze following him but he just ignored him and continued to the kitchen.

~·~

As soon as he passed the door he noticed the strong smell of smoke and he felt his eyes watering because of it. ‘’God Niall! You _were_ trying to kill them,’’ he coughed.

Jumping into Harry’s arms, Niall clung to him like a koala bear. ‘’I swear I tried Haz! The plan was to wake you up once the breakfast was ready but Jamie made me call you. Sorry H.’’ He said the last part hiding his face in Harry’s neck.

Harry returned the embrace.‘’It’s okay Ni, you know I don’t mind. I love cooking,’’ he said as he friendly patted Niall on the bum ‘’C’mon chop chop, let me do my job. Please, just take the burnt toast out of my view.’’ Harry scrunched his nose in a grimace and disentangled himself from Niall’s arms.

‘’Do you need any help?’’ Niall yawned to Harry when he was done.

‘’Have you guys slept at all?’’ Harry questioned in reply, taking in Niall’s pale face and the baggy eyes.

‘’Not really, we stayed up cleaning and then we were fucking hungry,’’ Niall said while placing a hand on his tummy as if to prove his point.

‘’Go take a nap with Z and Li, it’s only fair since I wasn’t here to help you clean,’’ Harry answered while pushing Niall out of the kitchen. ‘’I’ll call you in a few minutes when everything is ready. Love you, Nialler!.’’

‘’God you’re a saint, I love you too!’’ Niall replied, already on his way to the couch.

Harry smiled and started to place the ingredients to make some pancakes. He took his Ipod and put on the headphones. He was humming and moving his hips to _Party in the USA_ by Miley Cyrus when he felt a hand on his elbow he nearly screamed. 

‘’Shit!’’ His heart pounding like crazy, he yanked out his headphones and spun around to see Louis standing there wide eyed, his hand still frozen on Harry’s elbow. 

‘’Fuck, you scared me!’’ Harry whispered-screamed with a hand on his chest. 

Louis bit his bottom lip, suppressing a smile. ‘’I’m sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean to. Thought you might want some company,’’ Louis dropped his hand from Harry’s elbow and placed it behind his back, Harry’s eyes following the gesture. Trying to recover, Harry went back to cooking but the sound of Louis clearing his throat stopped him.

’’I- I’m - I- I think we need to talk about yesterday,’’ Louis stuttered, voice gaining steadiness at the end.

Harry threw him an unimpressed look.’’Not now Louis, I’m really hungover as it is, I don’t want another factor making my headache worse.’’ A punctured look flashed across Louis’ face and Harry Immediately felt a rush of inexplicable guilt. He had snapped. But he was too stubborn to apologize.

‘’So much for mister sweetheart,’’ he heard Louis mumble under his breath, and looked up to see the boy rolling his eyes.

‘’Go with the others Louis, go rest and we’ll talk later,’’ Harry put his headphones back on and turned his back to him. Mentally convincing himself that he was not the asshole, Louis was. 

He resumed his work and completely forgot the argument when _Poker Face_ by Lady Gaga started on his Ipod. He felt his mood improve and started dancing while preparing the pancakes.

~·~

20 minutes later he had two plates of pancake towers waiting to be enjoyed by his friends. Taking his headphones out yet again, he went to the dinner room to prepare the table.

Dark glass and exquisite silver legs, the elegant table was big enough to seat a household of twelve. The expensive item would have been intimidating to the boys, but the shapely red-glazed vase with sunflowers perfectly placed in the center by Niall’s mother added a homelike and inviting flair to the posh eye-catcher.

‘’Do you want some help H?’’ Jamie’s groggy voice broke the silence. He had staggered up to Harry and was rubbing his eyes with his fists.

‘’Yeah, could you fetch the cups and the teapot for me J?’’ Harry answered with a small smile on place.

‘’Sure thing.’’

Harry then placed the plates on the table, and started with the hard mission to wake up the rest of his friends. Liam was still sat on the same place he saw him when he arrived with Zayn’s head on his lap, Zayn had one foot on the floor and the other one on the couch, Niall was on the white loveseat with his knees on his chest and his head on his knees. But something else caught Harry’s attention. On the other end of the sofa with Zayn and Liam laid a sleeping Louis. He was crouched between Zayn’s legs, curled into himself with his head resting on the couch back. He looked so small, so in peace and relaxed, all of the sass and the bitterness out of his expression. 

Finding himself entranced with the boy’s features, a loud _clang_ from the kitchen and Jamie screaming from the kitchen ‘It didn’t brake!’ snapped him out of his thoughts. Harry approached the couch and got down on his knees in front of it. He took Zayn's face between his hands. "Zee wake up, breakfast is ready and it's getting cold," he said, loud enough for him to stir up but not to startle him.

Zayn scrunched his face and whined. "Five more minutes, H," he ended with a pout. 

The movement seemed to wake up Liam who was a light sleeper, he ran his hands on his face and opened his eyes. "G' morning Haz," he mumbled, voice deep from sleep.

Zayn suddenly jolted and sat down abruptly, kicking Louis on the ribs in the process.

"Oow," Louis reacted in pain, bracing himself.

Harry had to put a hand on his mouth to stop the loud laugh that was attempting to form in his belly. "Pfff."

Louis snapped his eyes open and sent an angry look at Harry who was already watching him.

"You left early yesterday," Zayn said pointing his finger at Harry looking at him with narrowed eyes. "you didn't even say goodbye H, is everything okay?" he added voice softer on the last three words. 

Harry turned his head to face Zayn, he suddenly remembered that he hadn't even tried to contact Taylor yet, he didn't know if that would just make things worse. He dropped his gaze and fixed it on Zayn naked feet, took a deep breath and raised his head only to realize that everybody's eyes were on him. Even Niall was suddenly awakened. 

"Um," he mumbled and tried to play with hi hair and then remembered he had the snapback on. "Taylor and I had a fight, that kind of sucked all of the party mood off of me." Harry tried as a joke but felt short when no one said a word. " 'M sorry I wasn't here to help you guys with the cleaning," He added.

"Babes, you know we don't care about that," Niall said from his seat. " Are you okay, though?" He asked, eyes filled with worry. 

Harry noticed on the corner of his eye that Louis was looking at them with a shocked and curious expression. 

"Yeah 'm fine please drop it guys, breakfast is getting cold," Harry squirmed feeling judged under Louis' stare. 

Liam, Zayn and Niall shared a worried look but stood up without asking further questions. Harry sent his gratitude to the universe and rushed to the dining room and sat down next to Jamie who was already stuffing his mouth with pancakes.

"Thanks for waiting for us J, always so polite," Harry deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

Jamie snorted. " 'm not eating cold pancakes just 'cause you last a lifetime waking up the guys" he spoke with his mouth still full grossing Harry out.

Harry then felt a kiss on his head and turned his head to see Liam sitting next to him. "Thank you Haz," Liam said with a sweet smile. 

All the boys echoed Liam's words and sat. Louis was in front off Harry and next to Zayn. Niall sat on the other side of Jamie. They stayed in silence while eating and drinking tea, seeming to be more interested in the food that making small talk. When Harry felt so full that he thought he was going to explode at any moment. He felt the hangover leave his body and started to feel kind of sleepy. He got up and stretched with his hand extended above his head yawning.

"Are we watching a movie?" He asked mid yawn.

Niall jumped from his seat. "Yeah buddy," Irish accent full force."I just bought Sherlock Holmes in DVD." He said going to the living room. 

"I'll make popcorn," Liam stated standing up and going to the kitchen. 

"Imma look for some duvets the living room is frickin freezing," Zayn added going to the stairs that lead to the second floor. 

"I'll just go sit and wait for everything to be ready," Jamie commented.

"Cheers lads, I guess that leaves me with the cleaning up," Harry yelled annoyed for everyone to hear him.

"I'll do it Harry," Louis said, it felt like hours since the last time he addressed him directly. Harry hated and most of all didn't understand why his voice made him so nervous. 

"I- It's okay-" Harry started. 

"God drop the attitude, I just wanna help," Louis snapped. 

Startled at that Harry looked at Louis with wide eyes and when he was about to say something Louis started to clear the table.

"Just show me how to use the hot water and I'll wash the dishes yeah?" Louis said voice steady not showing any emotions. 

"There's no need, Niall has a dishwasher." Harry answered, taking the teapot and cups on a tray. "It saves water and is faster," he then explained, like it was necessary. 

"Okay, then lead me to the dishwasher and show me how to use it," Louis said sounding irritated.

"You have never used a dishwasher before?" Harry asked genuinely curious. 

That made Louis’ angry demeanor worse, he laughed bitterly. "You're so full of yourself," he then stormed out to the kitchen.

Harry felt bad, he then realized that maybe had snapped at Louis one too many times and now he was getting defensive. He decided to go after him, and he met him placing the dishes carefully but awkwardly in the dishwasher, clearly not having a clue how the machine worked. He made slow steps toward him, to communicate that he came in peace.

"Louis," Harry said guardedly Louis gave a slight jump apparently not expecting Harry to come after him. " 'M sorry if I offended you, and if I was rude...". Harry lifted his hand to his hair nervously and was stopped once again by his snapback, which he ended up taking off then placing back again. "I was in a really bad mood with my hangover- and I know it’s not an excuse- but yeah, sorry." Harry rambled nervous and extended his hand as a sign of peace. “Truce?”

Luckily Louis had grown less and less angry throughout Harry's speech and ended up with a smirk on his lips. Harry saw his gaze hesitate between his extended hand and his eyes. Louis then reached his hand out and took his, and Harry felt electricity run through his body from the contact.

"Truce, " Louis said almost inaudible.

They shook hands and resumed their actions to the task a hand. Harry showed him how to set everything in the dishwasher and hey finished their cleanup duties in peaceful silence before going back to the living room.

Harry noticed everybody else was waiting for them, Liam, Zayn and Niall sat on the big couch sharing a king size duvet, Jamie was on the floor between Niall's legs were he made a nest of pillows and was enveloped with a blanket, a huge bucket of popcorn laid on Zayn's legs, there were 6 big plastic cups with soda on the little black table in front of them and there was another identical bucket of popcorn on the loveseat next to a big blue blanket which Harry supposed was placed for them. He turned his head and found Louis already looking at him. Harry pointed the loveseat and made him a sign to follow him. They walked to the smaller couch, Louis grabbed the popcorn while Harry extended the blanket for both of them, the AC was making the room freeze. The sat on each end of the coach, louis handed the bucket to Harry and curled up to the blanket to his chin.

"Is everyone ready?" Liam asked with the control in his hand.

Everybody nodded and Liam pressed play. 

They watched the movie in silence, the only sound apart from the movie was the munching of popcorn.

After 30 minutes, Harry started to feel cozy and his eyes started to get heavy he darted his gaze around the room and saw the boys were also starting to doze off, Zayn's head on Liam's shoulder, Niall's head on Zayn's and Jamie was starting to drool on Niall's thigh. They look like a pack of cute puppies, Harry smiled to himself and let the sleep take him to unconsciousness. 

~·~

He felt a hand shaking his shoulder and his mind was trying to fight to stay sleep, Harry stirred trying to get away from the touch. "Harreee," he heard a voice with a thick accent whispering, "Harold wake up," came the voice again with another shake of his shoulder. Harry opened one eye and realised with his mind still muffled from sleep that it was Louis who was trying to wake him up.

"Hi there," Louis said still whispering with sweetness in his tone.

Harry rubbed his eyes with his hands and yawned." Hi-"

"Shhhh," Louis placed his index finger on his lips,"the boys are sleeping, there's no need to wake them up," he explained with a tone that Harry could barely hear.

"Then why, why why did you feel the need to wake _me_ up?" Harry whined/whispered. 

Harry now more alert opened his eyes and took a look on the living room, the other boys were a mess of tangled limbs and blankets, it looked pretty uncomfortable but they seemed contented.

"We need to talk... " Louis brought Harry's attention back, he saw Louis open and close his mouth like he was trying to be careful with his words this time "Please, let's address the elephant on the room so we can just leave the awkwardness behind us, " he pleaded. 

He thought about it for a second and figured that if Louis was now going to be part of the group it was going to be a long summer if they didn't get along.

"Sure, let's go outside so we can talk without waking the others," Harry answered.

They stood, Harry tripped on the blankets and almost fell, he felt his cheeks getting warm from embarrassment and heard Louis snort. He continued on his way to the backyard without looking back, he opened the glass door to the backyard and left it open for Louis. He felt the heat of the temperature hit him and that made him shiver.

Harry didn't know exactly what time it was, but it seemed to be early afternoon, it was still cloudy but even warmer than before. He bent and rolled up the end of his joggers to his knees, he took off his socks and put them next to the door.

He walked to the pool and dipped his legs sitting down on the edge. The water was cold but it was refreshing. Harry dared then to glance at Louis who was just sitting next to him, he hadn't realized until now that Louis was wearing a white tank top and light blue shorts Harry recognised as Niall's. He reckoned he borrowed them since he got in the pool with his clothes the day before..

"Okay, talk," Harry started fixing his stare directly to Louis's eyes this time.

Louis took a deep breath and started. "You were right..." Harry lifted an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue. 

"I don't know you. Far from that; we just met," Louis continued swinging his legs in the water. "Don't get me wrong. I still believe we're too young to know what love is, but it's not my place to lecture you assuming a bunch of stuff the first day I met you," he took a deep breath, "I would like for us to be friends. We're gonna be in the same school, we live just around the corner from each other and I will be on your best friend's class." 

"And my girlfriend's," Harry added smirking.

"And your girlfriend's," Louis agreed rolling his eyes. "Soo, now that we can leave that behind…" he trailed off. "Harooold I'm bored," Louis faux whined and the started to splash water to Harry giggling "entertain me, tell me more about yourself." he ended with a small smile on his face.

Harry laughed, and shook his face amused. And he started talking, he told him more about his mom and his sisters, how much he loved them, how close they were. In return Louis gave him more details about his family as well, he was four years older than Lottie and six years older than Fizzie, (which he learnt were Charlotte's and Felicite's nicknames.) he heard the boy ramble about how he was used to babysit his little sisters, how he would read them stories before sleep and how he loved to have tickle fights with them. Louis’ eyes were sparkling while he talked about his family and that warmed Harry’s heart.

"Let's play 20 questions!" He said enthusiastically, after a beat of silence.

"What?" Harry asked confused by the sudden change in Louis’ body language.

"Yeah, it's easy, I ask you a question you answer and then shoot back, we can ask whatever we want," Louis explained, bouncing with an expression that resembled a child on Christmas.

"Do we have to answer our own questions?" 

"Of course young Harold,” Louis answered with a mischievous smirk. “so don't ask what you wouldn't want to reveal," 

"Okay, you start," Harry said, feeling nervous, looking at Louis from his position.

Louis rubbed his hands with an evil semblance."Do you only like girls?" He blurted in one go, accent stronger than before.

Harry was stunned at Louis's bluntness. "Wow, straight to the point, don't you?" He laughed. "Yes, I only like girls," Harry lied, he felt his cheeks blushing, he didn’t know what possessed him, he was by no matters ashamed of his sexuality, but for some reason he didn’t feel like confidying that personal part of himself yet.’’I’m very open minded though, what about you?’’

Louis smile fell a little at that. "I’m actually bi," Louis said after a beat of silence. "Your turn." 

Harry thought for a second. "W- Why don't you believe in love?" 

Louis laughed. "Is not that I don't believe in love Harry, it’s just that I know for a fact that we are way too young for it to be real or to last forever, that only happens in Disney movies." He waited a moment and then added, "I guess the question would be- why do you believe in love in your case?"

"Because I believe that is the strongest force that exists, 'cause I don't believe age determines if love is real or not. You can be fifteen and find your soulmate, or be forty and never felt real love," Harry took a deep breath and turned again to look at the sky, feeling itchy under Louis' stare and continued, "because even though I know I don't need anybody at my side I want to feel a connection. I want to find that person who I can picture myself raising children or walking our dogs with, someone who can walk by my side through the bad times and celebrate the good ones with me." When he finished his speech he turned his gaze again and was surprised to find Louis smiling at him.

Louis then snorted and shook his head. "You're beautiful," Harry blushed in reply and felt something warm on his chest.

"I really hope you find your princess then," Louis finally said, turning his gaze from Harry’s. "Are you in love then? With your girlfriend, I mean" Louis asked without looking at Harry.

"I think I am yes, I feel nervous when I'm about to see her, my hands get sweaty. I feel that she cares about me and- hey that's not fair!" Harry accused "I can't ask you the same question because you're single," he pointed at Louis with a feigned offense expression.

He suddenly felt Louis tense beside him, for just a few seconds.

Louis took a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess that wasn't fair, but I can tell you that I've never being in love as a way of an answer to the same question," he made a pause and shoot another question.

They continued asking questions for hours, losing track of how many they were. Harry felt that he was beginning to know Louis better, and as they talked he grew more at ease with the boy. Eventually Louis laid on the floor beside him while they talked, and Harry learned that his favorite color was black while telling him his was purple, and they both had a similar taste in music even though Louis teased Harry for being a "sap" for his choices, they shared their favorite taste in sweets, revealed their birthdays to each other. Harry professed his love for cooking while Louis confessed he couldn’t cook to save his life. They talked about everything and anything in particular, while keeping the conversation light. 

Harry was in the middle of a speech to try to convince an offended Louis that cats are better than dogs, when the boy’s gaze was diverted to the back door behind him. Louis then suddenly sat up and put some distance between them.

"Haz? Sorry to interrupt, but your phone keeps ringing on and on,"Liam's voice came from inside the house, he turned so fast that it almost gave him whiplash and saw Liam on the door holding his phone in his hand, it was in fact ringing, he stood up and ran to take his phone. He knew who was calling since he had selected a special ringtone for her.

"Nothing to interrupt Li. It’s fine," he said, grabbing the phone and heading inside, feet still wet from the pool.

"Hi baby-" he said climbing on the barstool in the kitchen.

"Why aren't you answering your phone Harry?!" Taylor screamed at the other end of the line.

‘’Im so-’’

"No! Don't come to the house with your feet wet, Styles!” Niall yelled, coming to the kitchen, angry like an old lady with a flip flop on his hand threatening Harry.”Me Mum is gonna kill me if you leave stains on the carpet!! Out out out!!!" 

Distracted, Harry jumped off the stool. "Are you even listening to me? Where are you?" Taylor sounded frustrated.

"Oh my god stop!" Harry said to Niall while stomping back to the backyard. He could see the boys gravitating towards him from the corner of his eye.

"Excuse me?!" 

"No! Not you T! I was talking to Niall!" Harry explained with a frustrated sigh. "I'm sorry Baby, I was in the pool and forgot my phone inside, is everything okay?" He asked trying to soothe her mood. He walked to the end of the backyard, with his back to the house. 

"Perfect!" She snapped. "Apparently my boyfriend forgot that I exist but no biggie," 

"I would never forget about you T," Harry lied, because, yes he had momentarily forgotten that he was supposed to call her, after all she was mad at him when they said their goodbyes the night before.

"Oh don't lie to me H, your friends always manage to distract you from everything, don't forget that I know you guys and your weird dynam-" 

"Don't talk like that about 'em," Harry didn't let her continue, losing his patience. He felt all the boys eyes on his back but he didn't dare to turn around to confirm it. "Look," he said and took a deep breath he didn't want to fight." Can I come to yours? please, let's talk," Harry requested lowering his voice. 

Taylor agreed, Harry could feel that she was still mad but he felt relieved that she at least wanted to talk things out. He felt guilty, because, yes he lost track of time, and that usually happened when he was with the boys, they were usually playing FIFA or playing in Niall's pool, but this time he was only talking with Louis, and that was a first, he didn't know how to feel about that. 

Harry also started to feel mad it wasn't the first time that someone pointed out his love at spending time with his friends, he didn't think it was fair, this boys were his family and he always invited her to come and join them but she would always say 'is okay H, I don't want to intrude in your time with your friends, we don't have to be attached to the hip' and he believed her, now he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Harry?!" He heard Liam and it didn't seem to be the first time he was being called. Harry snapped out of his train of thought and turned around. He saw that Liam was closer than he thought just right behind him, he had a pout on his lips and his eyes were full of worry. Zayn, Jamie and Niall were by the backyard door with similar expressions. Louis in particular looked lost.

"It's okay Li, I'm okay," he said on the verge of tears. God he hated being so fucking sensitive, it was just a fight, they were not breaking up.He took a deep breath and schooled his expression. "I need to go," he said and then he abruptly remembered,"Li, can I go back to yours when I'm back from Taylor's? Mom has to work and I don't wanna be alone." Harry knew Liam understood that he meant that in more than one way.

"Of course H, you have a key, just come when you're ready." Liam quickly replied.

Harry then went to dry his feet, rolled down his joggers and put on his socks and made his way to the door, he didn't say goodbye to the boys and he didn't pay attention if they said anything to him either. He was a man on a mission. He needed to see Taylor and talk to her. _-Everything will be just fine-_ he chanted in his mind like a mantra. 

~·~

He put on his sneakers and got out of the house. It only took Harry five minutes to get to her house. He stepped in front of the door, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and knocked on the door. 

"Coming!" Taylor's voice came from the second floor probably.

Harry could feel his hands sweating, he wasn't sure if it was because he almost ran to get there or because he was nervous, he opened his eyes when he felt Taylor's footsteps coming to the door.

Taylor opened the door and looked Harry in the eyes, she was wearing short pajamas, something in Harry's expression seemed to soothe her because she gave him a small smile and she raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow and with a sweet surprised tone said, "You came."

Harry felt his heart melting in the moment, all the nervousness forgotten. He took a step closer and gave her a tight hug putting his hands around her waist."Of course silly, I'm really sorry, you know I care about you right?" He said with his head on her shoulder and then moved to give her a peck that she received without resistance. 

"Yeah I know, I'm sorry too, it's just- I- like-, we fought last night, and normally you're always the first to call me back even when I ask you not to, I guess I kind of panicked," she said sheepishly. 

"Awe baby, I'm sorry, it's okay we're okay," he said showering her with kisses all over her face.

She started giggling and placed her arms around his neck. "Come in, I'm taking care of the little devils and you know I can't leave them alone for too long," Taylor took a step back and gave Harry space to step in, closing the door behind her. "Harry's here!" She yelled.

Harry heard what could be a little stampede of miniature feet on the second floor. 

"Harry!!!" Both the boy (Tom) and the girl (Tammy) said at the same time, they ran and gave Harry a monkey style hug.

Harry didn't have a lot of experience with kids, but Tammy and Tom seemed to love him, and that warmed his heart. They played with the kids for a couple of hours, racing with them on their shoulders, and role playing, the little girl was the princess he had captured and Taylor and Tom had to come to her rescue which ended with a tickle fight, (while they were playing Harry’s mind drifted to Louis’ stories about his sisters and how he plays with them, he could imagine a soft looking Louis giggling and tickling his baby sisters). And after that it was time for them to take a nap. Taylor took her brother, who was already half asleep, to his bedroom and Harry carried Tammy - who seemed to be obsessed with him -, to hers. He read her a story and by the end of it she was sound asleep.

He smoothly exited the little girl's bedroom and closed it behind him. Just in front of that bedroom it was Taylor's and he saw her sat on her bed with her right leg crossed on top of the left, her hands supporting her weight behind her, she was already looking at him and her expression sent shivers around all Harry's body, she motioned him to come to her room with her head and he started to walk on what it felt like a trance. 

"Come sit right next to me H," she said seductively.

This was the first time that they were alone with the kids in her house, his house was always empty but it never felt right to bring girls or boys home. Harry sat next to Taylor and she didn't wait any longer to straddled him, took off the snapback and started to run her hands through his hair, she started rocking her hips and kissing Harry's neck. He froze, he felt torn between letting go, let his horny self take control and stop it there and run, he didn't feel prepared, it didn't feel right, he also felt stupid and heard Louis's voice in his mind telling him that sex wasn't really that important.

Harry decided to let go, he started to run his hands up and down on Taylor's back, he then felt her hands moving from his hair to his shoulders, she pushed him until he was completely on his back with her on top of him.

"T, your parents can come in at any moment," he whispered on her lips, eyes still closed.

"Shhh," she placed her index finger on his lips. "Let go Harry it's just me."

Harry didn't say anything and started to respond to her insistent touches, he made a trail of wet kisses on her neck and heard a low moan on his ear that went straight to his cock, he hadn't realized that he'd being meeting her hips rubbing his pelvis to hers. He felt that he was starting to get hard, and it was getting harder (no pun intended) to form coherent thoughts.

Taylor’s hands started to play with the hem of his shirt, tugging and leaving feather-like caresses below his navel, he knew what she was insinuating and he felt nervous again, his hands started to shake, he was panting and felt a little bit dizzy, he figured Taylor took his panting as arousal because she snatched off his tank top and took his hands and placed them on her butt cheeks.

"Wait, T please stop," Harry panted.

"It's okay H, I can feel you're as excited as me," Taylor moaned.

"Seriously, stop" Harry started to panic, he didn't understand why but it didn't feel right and it was all he needed to want it to stop. 

Taylor stopped rocking her hips abruptly and gripped Harry's shoulders while looking at his face. When she didn't find what she was apparently looking for she jumped off of Harry and threw him his shirt, her face was blood red and her hands were starting to tremble as well. 

"Get out," she said pointing her index finger to her door. 

"Let me expl-" 

"Get out!!" She yelled

Harry jumped out of the bed and tucked on the shirt, he felt horrible, all his body was shaking now, he had so many contradictory feelings. He felt guilty for stopping but used at the same time and as he rushed down the stairs he just kept playing on repeat what just happened. He was mad at him and at Taylor as well, he felt she was being unfair, _-maybe she thinks I don't want her-_ he thought trying to excuse her, he felt like a child and hated feeling that way. 

He went straight where he knew the keys were, ran to the front door and unlocked it, threw them to the floor and slammed the door running out of Taylor's house. 

~·~

Harry could feel his eyes swelling and he tried to blink back tears, he put his hand in his pocket to grab his cell phone, it was eight pm and the sun was barely starting to set,- _the perks of summer-_ he thought, he had three texts one from Liam, one from Zayn and one from Louis. 

**Liam:**

***Haz, I'm at home do you want me to save you dinner?***

He quickly replied.

**Me:**

***I'm coming now, and I'm starving, hope you still have some food.***

He scrolled to Zayn's text

**Zayn:**

***Everything okay H? You left without saying goodbye.***

He decided against replying right now, he didn't want to lie but he didn't want to talk about it through text either, so he keep scrolling down to Louis's text it had been sent just an hour after leaving Niall's house.

**Louis:**

***Great talk, I hope everything goes well with her mate.***

Even though he was feeling like shit Louis text message made him smile, it was a simple text, but it meant that he was thinking about him and that somewhat made him feel good. 

Just when he finished reading the text his phone rang with another text from Liam.

**Liam:**

***Of course mate, I'll be waiting for ya.***

He continued to Liam's house a few blocks from where he was, feeling like crying. He could not wait to curl under Liam's bed sheets and sleep until everything stopped hurting. As he walked on he got lost in his thoughts and didn't even notice when he got to Liam's front door.

"Haz?" Liam's voice brought him back to reality and he raised his head which he hadn't realized had been fixed on the floor.

"Hi Li," Harry said under his breath, diverting into the front yard. Liam's puppy eyes as he took in Harry’s slouching demeanor made everything worse. Harry’s bottom lip quivered, and he felt his eyes swell again.

"Oh H, come here," Liam said, sadness filling his voice, he took Harry in a tight embrace, palms soothing up and down Harry's spine. "What happened? Did you two break up?" 

Harry couldn't stop the tears anymore and hid his face in Liam's neck feeling his own body shake with all the strength he was using to not crumble there. "I- I- don't- I don't know," Harry sobbed, "God I feel s-so stupid, I-I don't wanna c-cry," he hiccupped.

"Hey, none of that," Liam said, Harry's face between his hands and wiping his tears. "I'm not gonna judge you H, you know that, it breaks my heart seeing you hurting like this You’re like my little brother, but crying would make you feel better afterwards," He said with that sweet tone he only used when they were alone and he needed to soothe him.

They entered Liam's house and he made Harry a cuppa as he had lost his appetite. As he sat drinking it in the kitchen, Harry told him what happened with Taylor, and by the end of the story he had a running nose, his eyes were puffy and his face was red as a tomato. Liam was right though. He felt so much better, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Liam had listened without interrupting and maintained a neutral expression, that Harry knew, was his friend way to not anguish him any further.

"That was rude and uncalled for," Liam complained when Harry was done. "She has to respect your boundaries Harry, without judging or questioning, she doesn't have the right to get mad at you, not because of that." He added getting angrier by the second.

"Yeah, that's why I'm so angry with her you know?" Harry agreed. "But at the same time it’s frustrating, it would be so easy to just give her what she wants, I mean, it's- it's just sex," he stuttered.

Liam wore an expression that clearly showed he didn't believe one word. "Since when is it just sex to you Harry?" 

Harry opened his mouth to protest. To try and convince himself that he was the wrong one but Liam knew him too well. “Don’t,” Liam admonished. “Don't feel ashamed of who you are. Own it, if there is someone who doesn't like it they can fuck off."

Harry widened his eyes. Liam never cursed, it was clear that this was riling his friend up and he didn't want to cast that burden on liam, opting to figure it out himself he stood up and hold him on a tight grip. "Thank you Li, you're the best, you're really my brother." 

They left the topic behind them and went to the living room, Harry put on a romantic comedy to relax and laugh, while Liam made some popcorn as way of dinner, when Harry started to doze off tired from all the crying he had earlier, he had Liam shook him up to go upstairs to the bedroom and promised some cuddles, Harry really loved his friends.

His head on Liam’s chest, Harry was nearly asleep under the blanket when he heard the boy talking.

"He asked me to introduce you, you know?" Liam said, sounding half asleep himself.

"Who?" Harry asked, voice thick with drowsiness.

" _Louis,_ " Liam yawned in reply. "When we got to the party, we were going over to the pool and he suddenly stopped me and asked if I knew you. He wanted to meet _you_ specifically." Liam's voice ended on a whisper which Harry was pretty sure indicated he fell asleep.

And Harry felt his heart beating fast. He was suddenly very awake. _-He wanted to meet me? He asked Li to introduce us? What?! Why?!-_. Liam started to snore a little - _Of course he drops a bomb, gives me a cardiac arrest and falls asleep!-_ the boy thought, after filling dizzy by how fast his thoughts were circling Harry tried to focus on his breathing to calm himself and with his head turning he felt the sleep taking him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give me your thoughts, don't hold back.


	3. I Didn't See That Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Harry are you in love with her or with the idea of love?" Louis asked suddenly serious.
> 
> "What do you mean?" Harry asked frowning.
> 
> "I mean, do you really see yourself spending your whole life next to her? have you already got to know all her flaws? Do you accept her in spite of them? Do you already know how she looks when she is just waking up, when she is on her worst?" Louis rambled questioning.
> 
> Harry was left stunned, thinking really considering everything Louis asked, he fish mouthed a couple of times, not really knowing what to answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter, leave kudos and comments. 
> 
> Follow me on twitter @ProudOfHS_LT

The rest of the weekend and the next week had flown by on the blink of an eye. On Sunday - the day after Harry and Taylor had the fight - Taylor left on vacation to London with her family, she promised Harry that they would talk as soon as she came back, giving her word that they weren’t over, that she just needed some distance. She asked him not to text her and swore that she would be back in two weeks. Harry didn’t tell his friends the full extension of the argument, only Liam knew what had happened and promised to keep it to himself, he knew that they would understand if he told them but he was very embarrassed as it was.

Harry tried the best he could to enjoy the week with his friends, he would spend every afternoon with the boys either at Niall’s in the pool or at Harry’s playing FIFA or Mario Kart. Louis blend in the group of friends perfectly, he was getting pretty close to Liam, they were constantly going out on their own, and building a strong friendship.

Louis favorite hobby was teasing Harry, whether it was because of his ‘posh’ accent (which was unfair if you asked him since Louis was the one with the foreign accent not him) or his clumsiness (guilty of charge) they were always bickering, it was refreshing though and Harry knew that he was growing fond of Louis, they started to team up on FIFA and discovered that they were invincible together.

~·~

It was Saturday, they were at Niall’s house in the pool since Jamie’s girlfriend came to visit and they wanted to do something fun and they guessed that Caroline wouldn’t fancy expend her afternoon watching a group of teenagers play Video Games. They invited a few girls from school so it would be according to Niall’s word ‘More enjoyable’. They were playing water polo. They were split in two teams; Harry, Liam, Perrie, Zayn and Demi in one team and Louis, Jamie, Niall, Caroline and Kendall in the other. Harry was horrible with his coordination in the game, when the ball hit him on the face for the third time in a row, he started to develop a little headache and his face was completely red, he didn’t know if it was because of the ball or the embarrassment and Louis’ laughter.

‘’Oh my God, Harreeee,’’ Louis laughed, pointing at him with his index. ‘’You- You Can’t-’’ he tried before another wave of cackles.

Harry narrowed his eyes and said, ‘’I swear to you Louis, if you keep laughing I’m gonna drown you,’’ he tried to sound angry but ended up with kind of a smirk. He really liked Louis’ laugh, it was contagious and it always made his eyes sparkle. (not that he would say that out loud of course.)

‘’I’m sorry, I’m sorry I can’t help it,’’ Louis answered still chuckling. Harry could hear as a result Niall and Jamie laughing their ass out.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing loudly, everyone went silent and looked at each other.

‘’Sorry lads, that would be my phone, I need to take this,’’ Louis said walking to the pool ladder. He picked up the call, he went out of the pool and picked up the call."Mom?" 

Harry wasn't able to hear Louis' mom at the other end of the line but he did notice it probably wasn't good news by the boy's facial expression.

"Yeah…" Louis listened, "I understand," he took a deep breath. "No, it's okay mum don't worry, I'll be there in a bit," he finished the call and faced the boys.

"Sorry guys, my mum needs me to babysit for a few hours," he explained while drying his chest and legs with a towel.

"Would you like me to go with you, Louis?" Harry offered.

"It's really not necessary Harry, it's not my first time and you will be bored to death," Louis answered, taking his wallet and his house keys.

"I'm sure that H will be enjoying that even more than staying here to play with us, he loves children, this weird kid," Liam said. "Plus, like that we won't be left with uneven teams."

"Okay, now you're just trying to get rid of me," Harry complained, turning to Liam with his hands on his hips pouting. "It's true though, my face could use a rest of all the hitting,"

"Well if you're sure, you need to hurry, because mum said she needed to leave now," Louis said gesturing with his hands to Harry.

Harry rushed out of the pool and dried his body with a towel as fast as he could, he took his phone and followed Louis who was already inside of the house gathering his bag and waiting for him impatiently. Inside of the house he took his bag as well figuring he might as well have the chance to take a shower at Louis’ to rinse the chlorine from his body.

~·~

Five minutes after taking everything they needed and practically running out of Niall’s they were in front of Louis’ house. The boy’s mother was already waiting on her car for him to arrive and took off as soon she saw them. Louis waved her goodbye and entered the house with Harry on his heels.

‘’Where are you little monsters?!’’ Louis screamed when they were in the middle of the living room.

The house was big, the living room was immediately after the entrance with a big beige couch, a huge TV in front of it that was on at the moment, playing a Disney movie. Harry could see the black metallic stairs that lead to the second floor from where he was standing.

‘’Okay, so as you already know Lottie is thirteen and Fizzy is eleven which means they are on that stage where they really don’t think they need me to babysit them anymore,’’ Louis explained to Harry while walking further inside the house, passing the living room, where a hallway was, at the left there was lovely kitchen that had another door that faced the backyard. ‘’Mum actually gave them a chance a couple of months ago,’’ he continued turning his head in every direction looking for his sisters. Harry was trying to pay attention, follow him and take his surroundings at the same time. ‘’but they flooded the bathroom trying to take a ‘relaxing bath’,’’ Louis huffed.

‘’That sounds like an accident,’’ Harry tried to defend the girls.

‘’Yeah right, they actually got distracted watching a rerun of _High School Musical_ on Disney Channel,’’ Louis shook his head and rolled his eyes. ‘’I found them both hypnotized watching Zac Efron singing after I tried to go to the bathroom and realised I basically needed a boat to enter,’’ they boy rambled, Harry could see all the affection Louis had for his sister in the way he smiled while speaking, it warmed his heart. 

‘’Totally not true, don’t believe a word!’’ a chirp voice came from the stairs. 

Harry turned around and found at the bottom of the stairs a small brown haired girl with electric blue eyes, those eyes were the exact same replica of Louis’, they had the same little nose and Harry was astonished at how much they resembled. He heard Louis snorting.

‘’Harry this is my sister Lottie, she believes she is so cool and beyond her big brother,’’ Louis said rolling his eyes with an exasperated expression.

Harry saw Lottie’s cheeks becoming pink, he extended his hand. ‘’I see his not only mean with me then, nice to meet you Lottie,’’ he shook her hand, she gave him a small smile.‘’I’m Harry, don’t pay attention to your brother,’’ he said smirking.

‘’Oi!’’ Louis protested, slapping Harry behind the head.’’Don’t joke with my authority in this house,’’he continued with a hand on his chest mocking offense.’’It’s hard as it is for them to listen to me,’’

‘’As it should be,’’ Harry quipped winking to Lottie. She laughed, a little burnette head appeared behind her shoulder and Harry saw an identical third set of blue eyes, ‘Unbelievable’ he thought.’’Hiiii,’’ he tried waving his hand to her, she hid her head behind her sister’s back.

‘’That would be Fizzy,’’ Louis said.’’C’mon baby girl don’t be shy, this is my friend Harry, he’s completely harmless,’’ the boy extended his hand to his sister, she took it and got out from her sister’s back. She was teeny tiny with angelical features and the same small nose of her siblings.

‘’Let’s break the ice then! What do you think about playing hide and seek, or are you to old for that?’’ Harry suggested excitedly. He saw how Fizzy’s eyes lighted up immediately and started bouncing, Lottie on the other hand rolled her eyes an expression Harry was used to seeing on her brother’s face.

‘’Don’t be a party pooper Lotts, is a great idea,’’Louis said smiling to Harry.

~·~ 

They agreed that since Harry was the one that came with the idea he was going to be the first one seeking.

He covered his eyes with the underside of his arms and counted to 40 "Ready or not here I come!" He yelled. The house was completely silent, the only noise coming from the TV. Harry realized he had a disadvantage right away, this wasn't his house and he did not know his way around, he felt a little uncomfortable wandering around the house by his own 'it was your idea dumbhead' he thought, he took a deep breath and started to walk, looking everywhere trying to find them he was approaching the coach at the living room and heard a little giggle, he smirked and whispered on devilish tone "I hear you," he jumped on the coach and saw behind a startled Fizzy with her hand covering her mouth, her shoulders shaking from contained laughter.

"Found ya!" Harry screamed.

She squealed and ran away laughing. "Lottie, hid better! He found me!" She screamed laughing.

"Hey! That's cheating!" He ran after her, panting.

Fizzy stopped on her track and held her hands up, "I surrender!" She took a big breath "I need to rest, I surrender!" And with that she plopped on the couch dramatically. 

'It runs on the family then.." he thought, amused by her actions.

He continued the searching, he went upstairs and opened a door with a big golden L with sparkles, finding Lottie on her bed not really hiding, on her computer, she answered "whatever, Harold" when he screamed, "found you!".

He shrugged and continue his searching excited to see where was Louis hiding, he saw another door with a soft pink F, he opened the door and searched on the closet and under the bed,"not here," he muttered under his breath, he exited the room; the second floor was a long hall with 5 door, the house was huge but it didn't seem fancy, he opened the next door, and saw two small cribs, the room was decorated with yellows and greens, and the smell of the paint was still strong, he closed the door without entering not wanting to intrude.

Harry finally went directly to the bedroom he assumed was Louis' since it had a _Do Not Enter_ sign on black and red, he smiled and opened the door silently. The room was pitch black since the windows and the heavy curtains were shielding the sun, with the little light that filtered from the hall Harry was only able to see the queen sized bed, he turned on the light and smoothly closed the door behind him. The bed was a disaster, it seemed like someone just rolled around the sheets, the walls were covered with posters of bands, in front of the bed there was a desk, with a mess of note books, a computer and pencils all over it, beside there was a football, and above the desk nailed to the wall there was a big board with a lot of pictures, Harry couldn't contain himself and came to stand in front of it.

There were pictures of a beautiful woman Harry could recognize as Louis' mom, same eyes and same smile, they were a few of Fizzy dancing ballet with a little pink leotard. They were a lot of faces he didn't recognize, Harry assumed were Louis' friends from Doncaster, a particular picture caught his attention, it seemed recent, it was Louis on a party, to his right there was a bulky guy making the peace sign, to his left there was a brunette girl with a soft expression and a sweet smile, he had his arm around her shoulders, their fingers laced above her left shoulder, he had his nose buried on her hair, smirk on his mouth and eyes to the camera, it seemed oddly intimate. 

Harry was slowly reaching to touch the picture, fingers almost touching it when he felt a hand on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Louis asked.

Harry jumped with a hand on his chest "fuck me! People need to stop scaring me like this!" 

Louis laughed, it felt weird a plastic copy of his natural laugh, "seriously Harold what were you doing?" 

"Looking for you, guess you found me instead of me finding you, I got distracted with your pictures, who are they?" Harry questioned pointing to the picture he was about to touch. 

Louis gave him a tense smile, "friends from Doncaster," he answered and turned around, "come on Harry is not a good idea to leave the girls alone for too long."

~·~

They went downstairs, and found the girls already watching TV, they ordered pizza and sat in the living room. Harry took a shower while they were awaiting for the pizza and when he came back they were already eating and watching tinkerbell from the DVD, Fizzy had her head on Louis' lap while Lottie had her back to the armchair and her feet under her brother's thighs. He smiled at the scene and felt his chest warm, he joined them oddly feeling part of them already.

They lost track of time watching movies, in the middle of the second one Louis' parents arrived and went straight to sleep, since Joanna (Louis' mom) was too tired, they were on the third movie, Harry was starting to tear up with the scene where Wall-e did not recognize Eva and she desperately tried to make him remember, when his phone started to ring, he jumped and took his cellphone from the coffee table.

"Good god Harree, does everything scares you?" Louis' said between laughs.

"I was just very focused on the movie," Harry said sniffling, "oh no, it's my mom, what time is it?" He answered without waiting for an answer.

"Hello?"

_"Harry, where are you? I came home from work and you are not here,"_

"Yeah mom sorry I didn't tell you before, it's okay I'm just at Louis' watching movies," 

_"Oh it's okay sweetie, I was just worried, I am going out with a couple friends from work anyways, just please let me know when you are safe at home,"_

"Oh okay, yeah I think I'll go home in a couple of hours,"

_"Sure darling no problem, take care, love you"_

"Love you too mom," he ended the call and was planning to continue the movie marathon when Louis stood up.

"Okay my time as babysitter is over so I'm going to my room, bye little monsters, you coming mate?"

Harry was really torn between finishing Wall-E with the girls or going with Louis but he figured he was there because of him so he just followed Louis upstairs. 

~·~

Louis entered his bedroom and sat on the chair in front of the computers desk, "You can lay on the bed, I need 5 minutes,"

"Sure," Harry said unsure, he laid on his back, lost in thought, thinking of Taylor, on the conversation he pictured in his head, how sorry he was, he was going to tell her that he was ready.

Harry had been planning with Niall all the logistics, he wanted it to be special, he wanted it to be romantic, he knew he wasn't the first but he wanted to be the last. 

"You really care about her, don't you?" Louis voice broke his train of thought. 

"What?" Harry asked looking at Louis confused.

"You had that lovey dovey face that you make when you're with her or thinking of her for that matter," Louis said with a smirk on his face. 

Louis plopped on the bed next to Harry and laid on his back.

"Yeah," Harry whispered, looking at the ceiling with dreamy eyes. "I think this is it you know… well, I already know what you think about it but I just feel it." 

"Harry are you in love with her or with the idea of love?" Louis asked suddenly seriously.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked frowning.

"I mean, do you really see yourself spending your whole life next to her? have you already got to know all her flaws? Do you accept her in spite of them? Do you already know how she looks when she is just waking up, when she is on her worst?" Louis rambled questioning.

Harry was left stunned, thinking really considering everything Louis asked, he fish mouthed a couple of times, not really knowing what to answer. 

"Is endearing really, the way you look all puppy in love, but you don't really know what a real relationship entails, what really love is about," Louis said while looking at the ceiling, Harry was looking at his profile, he was really curious, for someone that said not to know about love he sounded so wise.

"How do you know so much about love, when you claim to be too young to really recognize it?" Harry questioned lifting his head trying to make eye contact.

Harry felt Louis tensing beside him and looking at the opposite side.

"I- It's late, sorry I wanna sleep if you want to stay you can, but I'm going to get ready to sleep." Louis mumbled sitting up fixing his fringe.

Harry felt like he overstepped on a too personal subject, "No, I have to go home tonight, don't worry," he felt guilty and just wanted to go home.

They went downstairs and Harry gave his goodbyes giving Fizzy a kiss on the forehead and Lottie just a wave since "I am too old for little kisses like a child, Harold," he just rolled his eyes and asked Louis to open the door for him.

Louis went with him and stepped out of the house with him, "Thank you, Harry really is great to have a lad around while taking care of them, and they adore you as well," he said with a sincere smile on his face.

"Sure mate, anytime that what friends are for," Harry mumbled suddenly nervous.

Louis smirked and pulled Harry's arms and gave him a hug that surprised him, he took a few seconds to react and return the hug putting his arms around Louis' neck, he felt him relax into the hug, "Goodnight young Harold, sleep tight," he said completely ruining the moment.

Harry snorted and took a step back, when he was about to leave he heard the door next to Louis' house opening, he turned around confused since Taylor and his family were supposed to be on vacation in London, he then realized that there was a car in front of Taylor's sidewalk.

He saw a tall guy coming out of Taylor's house walking backwards with his arms around her waist, hands squeezing her butt. She had her arms around his neck holding his black hair tight, they were kissing deeply; she was wearing black short shorts and a red t-shirt, Harry also noticed she was going barefoot, Taylor was so absorbed on her bubble she didn't even realize anyone was watching her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you see that coming?


	4. Hard days. Good friends.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘’I changed my mind...’’ Louis whispered like it was a secret. ‘’My new favourite colour is green,’’ He told Harry while looking directly into his eyes.
> 
> Harry felt his cheeks getting warmer, ‘’Well, that was random,’’ he tried joking, he fake-coughed trying to alleviate his flustered state ‘’what shade of green anyway?’’ he asked, playing dumb.
> 
> ‘’Dunno, what shade of green are your eyes?’’ Louis asked, unashamedly staring at Harry with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here you go Chapter 4. I hope you like it! Please leave comments and kudos.  
> I hope all of your are staying safe 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @ProudOfHS_LT
> 
> From this point on things get a litte more interesting on my opinion.

Taylor was so absorbed in her bubble she didn't even realize someone was watching her.

"Don't come back again," Taylor said with a smirk on her face, practically talking into the guy's mouth, "You know I have a boyfriend, and nobody can see me with you," she added with a fake pout.

"Do I look like I care, Tay?" The guy answered, caressing her cheeks with his nose.

Harry felt the blood running from his face, a knot formed in his throat making it hard to breathe. He swore he could hear something breaking inside of him. It was as if time suddenly stopped. His senses were suddenly blocked, his vision was blurry, he could see their mouths moving so he guessed they were still talking, but he couldn't hear them, he could see the tight grip that Louis had on his arm, but he couldn't feel it. A feeling of emptiness filling his chest, he felt laughed at, worthless.

It was always the same. Harry's relationships never lasted more than three months because they would either dump him without a trace of sympathy or cheat on him. Yes, Harry was young. He started dating when he was thirteen years old, and some may say that the fact that relationships don't last at that age is a given, but for him it was heartbreaking, he always let himself feel too much too fast. 

To outsiders, it could seem like Harry was a little womanizer since he jumped from relationship to relationship every two or three months, the thing was that he used to fall in and out of love pretty fast, but he was never really the person in fault for his relationships to end (or at least that’s what he thought).

There was a reason his friends were overprotective of him. Every breakup left him a little bit more broken, and it tore his self-esteem by pieces, it made him feel that he wasn't enough for anybody. Sure, he was able to gain their attention but never enough to make them stay. On the outside, he would be the cheeky confident boy that charmed people, but inside he was starting to lose his confidence.

"Are you fooking serious right now?" Louis' thick accent brought him back to earth.

To him, it felt like slow motion how he saw the exact moment when realization dawned on Taylor, her face of complete shock and panic.

"Oh my god, H!" Taylor gasped and pushed the guy that still had his hands on her ass. "This isn't what it looks like!" She continued, tears filling her eyes. 

"Do you think we're stupid Taylor?! We just saw you!" Louis spat.

"Oh shut up this is none of your business!" She quipped furiously.

"You shut up," Harry mumbled choking, he didn't even know when he started to cry but they were tears streaming down his face. 

Louis turned to see him, expression unreadable, "Go home, Harry, you don't deserve this, don't give her the pleasure to see you affected mate," Louis whispered, only for Harry to hear.

Harry took a deep breath and wiped his tears with the sleeve of his t-shirt. "In case it was not evident. This..." Harry said signalling with his index finger between Taylor and him. "Is over, you don't have to worry anymore, you can bring him as much as you like," he deadpanned pointing towards the guy that was dead silent but with a smirk on his face.

"Baby, let me explain, please," Taylor tried with a soothing voice approaching Harry. 

"Don't even think about it, Taylor, how much of an idiot do you think I am? Do not come near me, it's over, I'm going home," He said with a tone void of emotion, he was resisting the urge to sob. "thanks for the pizza, Louis, see you around," he finished turning around and walked home.

When he arrived home he dived directly to bed under his sheets and started sobbing. He felt so so stupid. He fell asleep crying that night and didn’t realize that bulky strong arms came to cuddle him in the middle of the night.

~·~

Harry woke up the next day with his head throbbing and with a mouth full of a brown mop of hair, he could feel that his face was swollen due to all the crying. He enjoyed a couple of minutes of peace until everything came back to him. Taylor cheating on him, the guy's hands on her bum, the busted expression in her face. He felt a sharp sting on his chest and cuddled further to the arms that were around him -  _ Wait a minute, I went to sleep alone last night.-  _ he thought as he snapped his eyes open and looked down to find Liam’s sleeping form, head on his right shoulder -  _ That explain why I’m having hair for breakfast.-  _ he thought fondly, feeling better despite the events of last night.

‘’Li,’’ he whispered, shaking his friend nicely trying not to startle him.

Liam stirred ‘’Morning, buddy,’’ he stretched his arms yawning and sat up, ‘’how are you feeling H? Lou called me yesterday and told me you needed me here,’’ he asked looking at Harry in the eyes with nothing but care on his features.

‘’Same old, same old Li, it’s okay I guess it wasn’t meant to be,’’ he shrugged, and he knew he wasn’t fooling Liam, but he refused to share one more tear for someone who clearly didn’t care about him.

‘’H, you know I’m here to cheer you up and-’’ 

‘’Li, please I don’t need you to coddle me, I need my mates, I need maybe a couple of beers and video games, just drop the subject for now, please?’’ he pleaded looking at Liam.

‘’Sure, it’s whatever you want, I will call the guys so we all meet at Niall’s, go take a shower, you look like shit,’’ Liam said while ushering him to the bathroom.

‘’You could at least lie to me!’’ he screamed on his way to the bathroom.

Harry entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He took a deep breath and refused to look at himself in the mirror while he splashed cold water on his face and brushed his teeth, he stripped and entered the shower opening the pile, getting goosebumps for the impact of cold water with his heated skin.

~·~

After he took his shower, Liam and he went to Niall’s house enjoying the warm weather without having to share too many words. Liam knew him better than anyone and he knew he’s trying, he knew that just by having him next to him -as always- it made everything so much better.

They arrived at Niall’s house and Zayn, Liam, and Louis were there as well in the living room spread on a nest-like arrange of sheets and pillows, snacks on the table and Niall’s Wii video game console on. They were all talking loud and laughing until they heard them enter the room, they became silent and stared at Harry all with different levels of worry on their gazes. It was on moments like this that Harry really felt like the baby of the group, he took a deep breath and plastered the best smile he could fake.

‘’Well, I call dibs on player number one at Mario Kart!’’ He screamed and ran to his pile of friends.

‘’Oh your on, Harold!’’ Louis answered by taking the next one.

The afternoon went by pretty fast with all of them laughing and playing. Harry gradually stopped forcing smiles growing real ones, they laughed and ate junk food until their bellies ached. They went to the pool afterwards and grabbed a few beers. The weather was sunny and on their side. Harry was surprised when he realized that he actually hadn’t thought about  _ her _ for a few hours and he felt the void on his chest a lot more lighter. He sat on a chair next to the pool with a beer on his hand, looking at his friends with a smile of pure fondness. He saw Louis approaching him and he moved on the chair to give him space to sit next to him.

‘’Harry, how are you feeling, mate?’’ Louis asked.

Harry knew what Louis meant. He was giving him a chance to speak if Harry wanted. He smiled and looked at Louis in the eyes, such a beautiful blue that reminded him of a summer sky, always bright and without clouds.

‘’Thank you, Louis,’’ Harry said, crushing Louis with a hug. ‘’Liam told me you called him last night. I didn’t wake up alone thanks to you,’’ He mumbled to his ear and felt Louis returning the hug. A hand doing soothing motions on his back.

‘’No need to thank me, H, we’re friends now yeah?’’ Louis asked, holding Harry to arm's length from his shoulders.

‘’Yes, we are,’’ Harry answered, a smile showing his dimples on full force.

‘’I changed my mind...’’ Louis whispered like it was a secret. ‘’My new favourite colour is green,’’ He told Harry while looking directly into his eyes.

Harry felt his cheeks getting warmer, ‘’Well, that was random,’’ he tried joking, he fake-coughed trying to alleviate his flustered state ‘’what shade of green anyway?’’ he asked, playing dumb.

‘’Dunno, what shade of green are your eyes?’’ Louis asked, unashamedly staring at Harry with a smirk.

Harry choked and started to cough for real this time, he could feel that he was bright red from his chest to the tip of his ears ‘’Um, I-’’

‘’H, do you need sun blocker? you're beet red babes,’’ Zayn screamed from the pool.

_ -Oh God, kill me now please-  _ Harry thought. ‘’Nah Zee, it's okay just got a little overheated, that’s all,'’ He answered and sprinted jumping in the pool, leaving his beer on the floor next to the chair where he was seating. He splashed water everywhere and started a water fight with Niall, his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. He didn’t dare to check if Louis was still sitting on the chair, -big mistake- when he suddenly felt a grip around his ankle and shrieked feeling someone drowning him to the bottom of the pool. He opened his eyes underwater and saw light blue eyes staring at him, Louis was smiling at him, he raised a hand and brushed Harry’s hair from his face. Time stopped for a few seconds until Luis dropped his hand and left him, swimming to the surface.

As soon as Harry came back to the surface he could hear Niall's laugh.

"Hahaha, that was a good one, mate!" Niall said laughing like a hyena "you should've heard him scream, his face!" he continued, giving Louis a high five. 

"You wound me, Niall, I thought you were my friend," Harry screeched faking dismay.

"Sorry, Harry, your friends realized Tommo is much cooler than you," Louis said in a mocking voice while splashing water on Harry.

They all laughed it off and called it a day a few minutes after that since they were all wrinkled because of how long they had been in the water. They took turns to shower and then lazed around in the living room drinking beer, talking about school, and telling Louis what to expect when the new school year begins.

"It's a really small school actually we're only 25 per year which means you'll get to know everyone in the first week," Liam said.

"That could be very bad or very good, I mean, it kind of explains why you are so close to each other, but I can only imagine people can meddle a lot," Louis answered.

"Yeah, you got it right, it is going to be fun being back having Taylor in the classroom," Niall said bitterly, showing his voice.

All of them looked at Niall with rounded eyes like they wanted to slap him around the head which Zayn actually did.

"Shit!" Niall said he put a hand on his mouth as if trying to take the words back in. "Sorry, H," he mumbled.

Harry felt his cheeks getting warm, he bit his bottom lip and shrugged. "It's okay Ni, I guess I'm glad I won't be the one sharing the classroom though," he chuckled.

"What happened babes? Are you ready to tell us?" Zayn asked, a soothing tone implying it was okay if he didn't want to talk about it.

Harry stared at them bemused and then focused on Louis who seemed to be smirking at the floor. "I thought-" He glanced at Liam who seemed to be waiting for the answers as much as the other "didn't Louis tell you?" 

Liam raised an eyebrow at him shaking his head. "No, he was actually pretty cryptic, saying it wasn't his place to say why but that you needed me there," he shrugged.

Harry felt a warmth in his chest for various reasons. Louis knew he eventually would tell the other guys about what happened and even then he didn't say a thing. And Liam, his friend didn't question twice why Harry needed him, he just went and was there for him as the best fucking friend he was. Harry could cry, he actually felt his lips wobbling a bit. He bit his lip trying to hide it and took a deep breath.

"She cheated on me," Harry murmured and took another breath. "We saw her when I was about to go home. She was kissing a dude and had the nerve to tell him not to come again because she had a boyfriend," he laughed with no humour behind. 

Harry felt a lone tear sliding down his cheek and wiped it with the heel of his hand roughly. It hurt, it fucking hurt, mostly because he felt toyed with.

Zayn lunged at Harry on a tight hug. "I'm sorry, H, I know right now there's not much we can say that can make it better, but I swear it will pass."

"Thank you, Zee, you've done a lot," he mumbled back.

They were silent after that for a moment and he looked at Louis who was already looking at him, expression unreadable. He opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to say something but he thought better of it and shook his head and looked elsewhere.

The sound of the landline startled them and Niall jumped. "That must be mom checking we didn't burn down the house yet," he laughed while going to answer the phone.

"Li, can I talk to you for a second please?" Zayn asked, looking rather nervous.

Harry tried to hide his knowing smirk looking very interested in his nails.

"Yeah, sure, mate," Liam's oblivious voice came after. 

They stepped out to the pool area, and Harry looked at their retracting figures, he wondered if Zayn was finally making a move, he'd been pining over Liam for years now.

"And then there were two," Louis' voice brought him back.

Harry looked back at him and thought back to the moment they shared outside on the pool, trying to convince himself that he was reading too much of the situation. 

Harry forced a fake laugh and said. "Yeah, I guess…" he pondered for a few seconds what he wanted to say and decided to go for it. "It's a good timing though because I wanted to thank you, for not telling Liam what you saw. Not that I wasn't planning on talking to him, it was just nice to have the option to say it myself," he rambled.

Louis looked at him for a second and gave him a small smile. "It was not my place, is your personal life and I have no right to share it with anyone. I am really sorry, by the way, for what happened. Nobody deserves that," he added the last part with a hard edge on his voice. He seemed to shook himself out of whatever he was thinking and continued with a much sweeter tone. "I meant it, H, I consider you my friend now, and I am here for whatever you need, always."

"Always?" Harry whispered, trying to tease but it came out like he was out of breath.

Louis just stared at him and with a hand on chest answered. "Always," it sounded heavy. Like a promise, like too much for just two people that were just becoming friends.

Harry analyzed every feature on his face trying to read him.  _ \- he can't be flirting with me, he thinks I'm straight-. _

"I can hear you overthinking, do you always analyze everything before saying what you think? Have you ever acted recklessly?" Louis asked like he just read his mind.

"What do you mean?" Harry questioned confused.

"Have you ever just did something without giving a shit about what would happen after?" Louis pressed.

"It's called empathy Louis, you have to think if your actions are going to hurt others," Harry retorted harshly.

"It's called acting your age, Harry, you're fifteen for god sake, live for a little, let go!" Louis said, waving his hands dramatically.

"What are you talking about?" Harry said frustrated.

"Ever since I met you, I noticed that every single thing you say or do, you think it and rethink it before actually  _ doing,"  _ Louis quipped. "You snog your girlfriend at the pool, you're worked up and you want to continue, but then you overthink it and stop. You are dancing with a guy, you are actually enjoying it but feel guilty and run, I can go on, mate," he said getting closer to Harry. "We are young, Harry, we are supposed to make mistakes and learn from them, live, be reckless, enjoy, don't let fear hold you back." 

Harry was left speechless. He was trying to find a word to answer Louis' bluntness when Niall came back to the living room.

"Where are Liam and Zayn? I have news!" Niall said looking around. As if on cue a blushed Zayn appeared with a smiling Liam behind.

"What's up Ni? Everything okay with your family?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, I just got guilt-tripped by my granny," Niall rolled his eyes, "which means I'm leaving to Ireland with my family for a couple of weeks in two days," he added like it was such a core. Harry knew better though, he knew Niall loved his family and could tell he was excited. 

"Well, that's good timing. Zee just told me his family let him invite me to a trip there doing to Italy, we actually called my mom and she said it was okay so we're leaving in four days," he said matter-of-factly.

Harry looked at Zayn then, who looked so giddy he almost cooed. He was rooting for his friend and hoping they will be an official couple when they come back. Zayn looked back at him and Harry winked at him, making his friend go bright red.

"Well, I guess that leaves us alone for two weeks, young Harold," Louis shrugged, smirking.

And oh! Harry hadn't think about that, he didn't know how to feel about that either. Louis and he were getting on well enough, but there was always something about him that made Harry so nervous. There was also the fact that they were almost never alone, people worked as a buffer for them. The first time they shared totally alone it was actually the day before and it almost didn't count because they spent most of the extent with Louis' sisters.

"Well, I guess a gotta go home to start packing. Fucking Italy man! This will be amazing," Liam said excitedly while getting ready to leave.

"Yeah, I'm gonna call it a night as well guys see you tomorrow," Zayn added trying and failing to hide how flustered he was. Harry always questioned how Liam was clearly so blind.

"H, Louis, I don't want to kick you out but yeah, I need to pack as well," Niall shrugged, it wasn't the first time Niall had to practically drag the other boys out of his house, and they were comfortable enough with each other to not get offended by it. 

"I think that's our cue to leave, Harry," Louis said standing up and putting his shoes on.

Harry said goodbye to all of the boys, put his shoes on and got out of the house with Louis next to him. "Do you have any plans, or do you want to hang out?" He asked Louis hopeful, he didn't want to be home alone.

"We could hang out, and maybe watch a movie or some-" Louis got interrupted by his phone going off, he took it and when he saw who was calling, he startled a little and then look at Harry. "Actually, sorry but I can't tonight mate, see you around," he talked so fast that Harry was barely able to understand him, then he turned around a took off almost running, the phone still ringing.

_ -Okay, that was weird-  _ Harry thought, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  _ -I guess it's just me tonight then-  _ He walked home, took a quick shower to relax his muscles and went to bed to watch a rom-com. He kept thinking about Louis' words, he also thought it was ironic of him to over-analyze Louis telling him he over-analyzes everything, he rolled his eyes at himself  _ -maybe he's right after all.-  _ And with that in mind, he fell asleep.

~·~

They were in Liam's living room having a little reunion to say goodbye since the day after Zayn and Liam were going to Italy for two weeks. Niall was already in Ireland and was going to come back around the same time as the other two guys. Harry was starting to feel pretty alone. Louis went MIA since the last time they were all together at Niall's house and he didn't even go to say goodbye to Niall, sending just a text with an apology and a see you later.

"I feel abandoned by my friends," Harry whined. "What am I supposed to do this next couple of weeks guys?" He pouted.

"Oh, I actually have the solution for you," Zayn said while he looked around in his backpack. "One of my sisters is having guitar lessons with this dude that's totally awesome playing, and I know you've been thinking about learning to play an instrument, H," he then took a piece of paper from a notebook and handed it to Harry. 

Harry took the paper and read it. "Ed Sheeran," he said out loud. He took his phone and added the contact, making a mental note to call him the day after. "Great, Zee, thank you!" He took Zayn's cheeks and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Liam cleared his throat and when Harry looked at him he had an eyebrow raised in question. "Awww, Lima, don't be jealous, there's love for every single one of you," Harry cooed and jumped to hug and kiss Liam on the cheek.

The three of them started a wrestling game, laughing, tickling and playing around when the doorbell rang and they had to stop to see who was outside. They raced to the door Harry getting there first and without peeking to see who it was, he opened the door.

It was Louis with a bottle of tequila in hand, he seemed surprised to see Harry opening the door and then moved his gaze to the other boy and his eyes grew comically. "Did- did I interrupt something?" Louis asked, eyes flowing around the three boys.

Harry looked back to Zayn and Liam who were flushed, hyperventilating and sweating, he could only figure that he looked the same, and understood Louis' train of thought."Oh my god," he cackled out loud.

He heard Liam gasped obviously just understanding what Louis thought was happening. "Louis, for God sake!" He screamed with a disgusted expression. "Harry is almost like my baby brother," he said causing more laughter to Harry who cooed and hugged him, "and Zayn is my best mate," he added quickly.

That stopped Harry's laugh and Zayn's amused smirk. Harry could see hurt going through Zayn's eyes but it was gone quickly, in all honesty, Harry wanted to strangle Liam.

Louis seemed to catch up the change in the air because he recovered quickly and said with an unduly shipper voice. "I brought Tequila boys! You're boarding your plane completely shitfaced!"

Thanks to Louis' distraction they were able to recover from the awkwardness of the situation, they started doing shots and playing FIFA. Harry could see Zayn relaxing again, maybe due to the tequila but it was something.

As Louis promised they all got pretty drunk. It was closed to midnight when Louis' phone went off." Sorry lads, need to take this," he slurred. Louis got up, took the call, and went to the kitchen.

Harry was debating to himself if it was his drunkenness imagination or if Louis really got tensed when he received the call, he looked to his right where Zayn and Liam were in their own world, flirting unashamedly, he decided to be nosey.-because liquor would make him stupid like that- He tiptoed to the kitchen and tried to hear Louis' part of the conversation.

"Yeah…" Louis sounded like he was trying to make himself sober. "No, you're right, I'm sorry…" "Look I'll call you tomorrow yeah? No use to call me just to yell at me," he hung up and before Harry had a moment to react Louis bumped into him on his way out. 

Harry panicked and started stuttering. "Water, um, yeah I came to look for a glass of water."

Louis raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms on his chest and squinted his eyes, "I didn't even ask, Harry, were you spying me?"

Harry was sure that he was bright red as a tomato, "I- um, I didn't hear anything I swear," he lied.

"I don't like liars, Harry, but we'll leave it at that," Louis answered harshly, he looked at his clock and took a deep breath. "I actually need to ask you for a favour. I cannot go home this drunk, mom would hang me, can I please stay at yours?" he pleaded.

‘’Sure mate, I’m just going to let mom know, you can actually stay at Gemma’s room,’’ Harry took his phone out and sent a quick text to his mom.

‘’I think we better get going, these two forgot we were here already'' Louis snorted looking at Liam and Zayn.

Harry laughed but still approached his friends to say goodbye. He went to Zayn first, gave him a kiss on the forehead, a hug and whispered. ‘’This is your chance, don’t mess up babes, I love you, have a good time.’ 

‘’Thank you, babes, I’ll keep you posted, I love you too,’’ Zayn whispered-slurred.

He then approached Liam and did the same but to him he said. ‘’Open your fucking eyes Li, I love you, have fun,’’

When he looked at Liam he had such a confused expression Harry almost laughed.

‘’Love you too, H,’’ Liam answered bemused.

_ ~·~ _

They arrived at Harry’s house and Harry signalled to Louis to be quiet, putting a finger on his lips. All the lights were off which meant his mother was sleeping.

‘’D’you wanna take a shower? I usually prefer to do it before going to bed’’ Harry whispered, swaying a little without noticing.

‘’With you?’’ Louis wiggled his eyebrows.

Harry blushed but knew Louis was just joking so he didn’t make a big deal about that. ‘’Nah, I’m knackered, just wanna sleep,’’ he yawned as if to prove his point, ‘’lead the way, Harold,’’ he gestured.

Harry showed Louis Gemma’s room where Louis dove under the covers right away. Harry went to the kitchen, filled a glass of water for himself, one for Louis, and took a few painkillers for both of them as well. He tiptoed to Gemma’s room and left the water and the pills on the nightstand next to Louis. He let his drunk self admire Louis’ sleeping figure, peaceful, and so beautiful, hair on his eyes. Harry’s hand twitched wanting to reach and stroke his hair, it seemed really soft. Harry bit his bottom lip and shook himself out of his daze to brush his teeth, take a shower, and go to sleep.

~·~

Next day Harry woke up with a migraine from hell and metaphorically kissed his past self for the glass of water and painkillers that he left on his nightstand. He took the pills and drank the whole glass in a couple of gulps. He could smell bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. Harry took a deep breath enjoying the smell, he yawned and stretched his limbs like a cat. He got up from the bed and waddled to the kitchen.

He saw his mother making breakfast and humming to the radio she had on the kitchen counter. He gave her a side hug and a kiss on her shoulder, she leaned into the kiss and hummed.‘’ Good morning baby,’’

‘’Good morning, Mom,’’ Harry mumbled.‘’This smells delicious,’’ he rubbed his tummy smiling.

‘’I figured you boys would be hungry when you wake up,’’ she smiled, caressing his nest-like curled hair with her free hand.

_ -You boys - -You boys- -You boys - -You boys- -You boys - -You boys-  _ Harry heard on repeat in his head.

Harry widened his eyes  _ -Shit-  _ he thought, remembering just at that moment that Louis was just sleeping a few meters from him and here he was, on his boxers, hair tangled, face swollen from sleep - And surely he gave his nervousness away because his mother was squinting her eyes at him with a smirk - 

‘’Why are you getting all blushy honey?’’ she asked with that extremely sweet motherly tone.

‘’Um, I’m-, uh, I kinda forgot for a moment that he stayed here last night’,’ He stuttered, scratching the back of his neck.

Anne hummed and continued making breakfast ‘’How is Taylor doing darling? It's been a few days since the last time you talked about her.'’

‘’Um, We broke up mom,’’ he shrugged trying to go for nonchalance. ‘’It was mutual,’’ he mumbled trying not to be too obvious that he was lying, even though he knew it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t want to bad mouth Taylor.

‘’Oh, darling, I’m so sorry,’’ Anne said with a sad tone, she turned around and engulfed him in a hug.

‘’It's okay mum, I’m okay,’’ Harry mumbled to her shoulder.

His mother understood immediately that he didn’t want to talk about it. She gave him a kiss on the forehead and dropped the subject.

‘’And this boy, Louis, you’ve mentioned him a few times already. I gather he got along well enough with the rest of you,’’ Anne said while getting herself busy arranging the table.

‘’Yes, It's like he was always part of the group. He’s a pretty fun guy, he always says what he thinks, he’s proving to be a good friend. I’m pretty sure you will like him, once you get to know him,’’ Harry said with a fond smile.

‘’Do I smell a little crush here baby? does he have anything to do with your breakup?’’ Anne teased.

Harry raised his eyebrows and blushed furiously. ‘’Muuum,’’ he whined.’’He’s just a friend okay? I’m just getting to know him.’’

‘’Oh baby, don’t think that you can fool me. Remember that I was the first one to notice you crushing on Zayn,’’ Anne wiggled her eyebrows.

Harry gaped at her. ’’You were the first -and luckily the only one- to notice, mum!’’ he covered his face embarrassed. ‘’Please don’t repeat that ever again. That was ages ago,’’ he mumbled mortified.

Anne's laugh was cut by a noise coming from behind a throat clearing. Harry felt all the blood running from his face and turned his head slowly wide-eyed. Sure enough, there was Louis trying to cover the shock on his face, one eyebrow raised and mouth on a little ‘’o’’ shape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the cat is out of the bag. Give me you thoughts.


	5. Breaking my inocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis smirked and cleared his throat. ‘’Well, to me it seems that you like boys more than girls,‘’ he shrugged. ‘’But tell me, young Harold, how would you ever know that if you don’t give it a try?’’ Louis quirked an eyebrow in challenge.
> 
> Harry smirked back. ‘’Wouldn’t you want to know, hmm?’’ He winked at Louis and laughed at his shocked expression (honestly even Harry was surprised with that comeback).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, stop to read this please!
> 
> Warnings: 1) there is a little bit of smut at the end of the chapter, be prepared.  
>  2) some reactions could come across as over the top, as i've said before this is based on something that did happen so it's not only my wild imagination.  
>  3) I changed a couple of things on the first chapter, I changed L's father name and the fact that Li has tattoos because I realized he is not 18 yet, so if you want to re read it you can go ahead, it's nothing big though  
>  4) English is not my first language if you see any error you are more than welcome to let me know I won't be offended.
> 
> Well, that's it you can continue, I hope you like this chapter, Kudos and comments are highly appreciated!
> 
> Follow me on twitter: @ProudOfHS_LT
> 
> Also credits to the owners of the pics I am using. I do not own them.

A few seconds of awkward silence went by. Harry cleared his throat and sent a pleading gaze towards his mother.

"Good morning, darling!" Anne chirped. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard a few things about you from Harry."

Harry knew his mother was pretty sure Louis had heard part of their conversation as well, but she didn't seem faced at all. As far as she was aware, Harry didn't hide his sexuality. Hell, he didn't even know why he lied to Louis in the first place. He wanted to facepalm himself for the embarrassing situation. Louis seemed to recover from the shock quickly, and Harry couldn't read exactly what was running through his mind. Louis shot a big bright smile to Anne and extended a hand.

"Likewise ma'am, Harry always speaks so highly about you," Louis shook Harry's mom's hand and then turned his gaze to Harry. "Good morning, young Harold. You're a life saviour, thank you for the water and the painkillers you left me on the nightstand," he smiled meekly.

"No problem, mate," Harry said, trying to appear confident, in the middle of his kitchen with his mother and Louis  _ -only wearing his boxers-. _ He felt awkward as hell. Harry cleared his throat and signalled to his bedroom. "I'm just gonna put some pants on, be right back."

With that he sprinted to his room, put a pair of grey joggers and tried to appease his mane, he also went to his bathroom real quick and brushed his teeth. When he got back to the kitchen, his mother and Louis were already placed on the kitchen table munching their breakfast. He walked quietly to try and check what they were talking about.

"Yeah, mom is just in the middle of her second trimester, she's just really big because she's having twins," Harry heard Louis say.

"How lovely Louis, I guess you're very excited," Anne cooed.

"Yeah, I really love my siblings," Louis' voice was barely audible, like a whisper, and that made Harry want to see his expression. He felt butterflies in his stomach but rapidly shook himself out of it.

Harry decided that he had heard enough and just entered the room and took a seat. They ate while maintaining the conversation light, Anne was asking Louis about him, just the basics which Harry already knew. When they finished eating Louis helped to clear the table and while Harry washed the dishes, Louis took a cloth and started drinking duty.

"Harry, I will go and take a shower and then lay to rest a little longer. It was really nice to meet you, Louis," Anne said. ''And like the rest of the boys you're always welcome here," she gave him a kiss on the cheek and retreated to her bedroom.

The minutes ticked and the silence grew thick. Harry tried to maintain his hands occupied to avoid facing Louis. He could feel Louis gaze following his every move.

"Harry, I think the kitchen counter is clean enough," Louis said, and Harry realized he'd been cleaning the same spot for who knows how long.

Harry turned around and finally faced Louis. He tried his best not to squirm under the inspection of the older boy's blue eyes, he heard him sigh and when he thought that he was going to get questioned or judged what came out of Louis' mouth was. "I'm gonna head home okay? Mom needs me as much as possible."

They started to walk towards the door and Harry felt bad. He didn't understand. Louis was usually pretty blunt and forward with him, the fact that he was clearly biting his tongue now didn't sit well with Harry. It felt like taking a step back on their relationship.

"Okay," Harry mumbled. "We can hang around later, yeah? I can even go to yours and help you."

"Sure mate, I'll text you later," Louis answered. It sounded dismissive and Harry started to feel lost, he didn't get why Louis was acting this way. "Thank you for letting me stay here," he added, giving the younger boy a one-arm hug. And it was such a contrast to the hug he gave Harry in front of his house the other night, that it only confirmed Harry suspicions that something was wrong.

"Sure, Louis, I mean we are friends, aren't we? I’ll always be there when you need me," he said, trying to convey with his eyes that he meant it. 

‘’Always?’’ Louis asked with a ghost of a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

‘’Always.’’

~·~

After that strange exchange, Harry went to take a brief shower, where he had a quick wank, (definitely thinking about thick thighs and sassy smirk around his cock, but nobody had to know) and went to talk to his mother about the guitar lessons. Anne was thrilled with the idea of Harry having something productive to do in summer other than wrinkle like a prune in Niall's pool. She encouraged him to give the Ed guy a call and ask for rates and so on.

Harry grew excited, skipping to his room and preparing to make the call. He talked to Ed, they chatted about music a bit, he seemed like a pretty relaxed lad. Ed gave Harry his free schedule, to arrange two or three lessons of two hours per week. They also talked about the possibility of writing lessons. Harry was ecstatic, he'd been wanting to learn to play music for a long time now. He felt tempted to send a message to the guys but thought about international charges and winced thinking how he could hear his mother scolding him if he even dared.

His phone went off at that moment and he felt butterflies in his stomach, he took it without checking who it was.

"Hiiii, " Harry started with excitement feeling his voice.

"Wow, someone is happy, " Jamie laughed.

Harry's excitement dropped a little, he was expecting a certain raspy voice on the other end."Oh, Hi, J, how are you? It's been a while."

"You were definitely expecting someone else's call, weren't you?" Jamie poked fun at Harry.

"No, not at all, " Harry rushed to respond. "What are you up to? I thought you were with Caroline, " he questioned taking the attention off of him.

"Yeah, and now I'm back. I can honestly say I feel left out, you guys didn't even send me a text for a week. I've been officially replaced by Louis, " Jamie ranted.

Harry wasn't sure if Jamie was serious but he felt guilty. He doesn't even remember when was the last time he spent time with his friend.

"You know that is not true, J, you're part of us, part of the family, " Harry said apologetically.

Jamie laughed good-naturally. "H, do you know me at all? I'm kidding man, don't worry. I was actually calling you because Louis invited me to hang out with him. Guessed you were invited as well." He added. 

Harry furrowed his brows at that and looked at his phone to check if he had any missed calls or messages, there were none. He felt confused, he specifically told Louis he could go to his house and yet it was Jamie who received a text from him.

"No, sorry mate, " Harry said half-heartedly. "I got plans with mom, you know I don't see her that often, " it was a lie, but he decided at that moment that it was also true, he could just spend the afternoon watching telly with his mom. He refused to be when he was clearly not invited. 

"Oh, that's okay, H, tell Anne I said hi. See you around, mate."

That hanged up shortly after that, Harry felt lost.  _ -What the hell did I do now? I thought we were past this- _

He refused to cave this easily though, so he went back to his mom's room and shared all the details about the guitar lessons. They talked for a while and even made a Skype call with Gemma, where they shared a good laugh. He shoved away all thoughts about blue eyes and cute smiles. At least for today.

~·~

Two days after Harry had had enough. Louis didn't answer his texts, didn't pick up his phone nor he returned the calls. After his first guitar lesson, he went straight to Louis' house.

He was on his way, waking from the tube station. He reckoned he deserved at least an explanation for apparently losing a friend. He shook his head at that thought.  _ -don't be dramatic...-  _ he chuckled internally  _ \- he's being dramatic enough for the both of us-  _ he frowned then - _ Don't judge, you don't know his reasons yet.- _

Harry groaned out loud. "God, I'm arguing with myself! I'm going crazy." He rubbed his hands on his face roughly. He arrived then to Louis' house, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. 

He was prepared for one of Louis' little sisters to open the door, even for his mom or dad to do it. It was Louis though. Beautiful Louis with bed-hair, tired eyes that looked more grey than blue today, grey tank top, black baggy joggers, and barefoot. Harry saw Louis squinting his eyes because of the rays of the sun. 

Louis looked at Harry raising his eyebrows, he seemed surprised. Harry didn't know if to take it as a good or a bad sign.

"Hiiii, " Harry waved his hand awkwardly.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Louis asked.

"Well, since you don't answer your phone, I thought it would be useless to announce myself, " Harry shrugged.

Louis gazed to the floor and shrugged. "Sorry." 

"What did I do, Louis? What happened?" Harry inquired.

Louis gazed behind himself and nervously ran his hands through his hair. "Not here, come in. Let's go to my room, I was actually taking a nap on the couch." 

Harry entered and took his shoes off while Louis closed the door behind him. He followed Louis upstairs and couldn't stop his wandering eyes as he checked Louis' rounded bum bouncing a little with each step. Louis opened his bedroom door and let Harry get into the room first.

"Didn't know you play the guitar, " Louis said just when harry was positioning the case against the wall. 

"I don't. I just had my first lesson today, " Harry said with a smile on his face, unable to refrain his excitement. 

Louis returned his smile, the first genuine one since the night he stayed at Harry's house.

Harry sat down at the edge of the mattress, elbows on his knees, and rubbed his hands on his face. He took a deep breath and started to talk, still gazing at his hands. "What happened, Louis? First, you don't know how to keep your brain-to-mouth off, and then you just ghost me? Without an explanation? Literally, Louis, what the fuck? " He ranted. He then chanced a glance at Louis. He had his hands to his sides tight on fists, jaw clenched, but he wasn't looking at Harry. Louis was looking at his board above his desk. 

"I told you, I don't like liars, " Louis answered after a few seconds of silence. He was running his hands through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me that you're bi, Harry? Did you think I would throw myself at you?" He chuckled bitterly.

Harry winced at the last part of that answer. "I'm sorry, okay?" He said frustrated. "I don't even have a good excuse for that, but you have to know that it wasn't because of that," He took a deep breath and waited a few seconds to collect himself and continued. "You have to know how it is right? Not because you're out with someone, it means that you're out with everyone, you get it, right?" Harry rambled.

…Silence… 

"Louis?" Harry whispered.

"I trusted you, Harry" Louis fidgeted with his hands. "You were the first person I came out to, okay? He yelled-whispered gesturing with his hands. His gaze was fixed on Harry now. He looked furious." How do you think I felt when I realized that the first person I trusted felt the need to hide that lar of himself to me, " The hurt was clear in his voice. 

_ -Oh my God-  _ Harry felt like crying.  _ -You dumb, dumb little shit- _

"Louis," Harry pinched the back of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "How was I supposed to know that, Lou?" He mumbled. The nickname rolled out of his tongue without intention. 

Louis gaped at him, eyes narrowed. "That's what you decide to say?" 

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to hurt you. You said it so nonchalantly that I- I thought-" Harry stuttered. 

Louis sighed, his shoulders hunched to himself. "You're right, " he sat beside Harry. "To be honest, I don't even know what made me be so honest with you, " he shrugged. "Things here are so different than where I come from, that I just felt safe to finally acknowledge that part of me that I've been hiding for so long." 

Harry couldn't resist reaching out. He held Louis on a side-hug. His right hand was placed on Louis' right shoulder. 

"I'm really sorry, Lou, " Harry whispered, afraid to break the moment. He gently placed Louis' head on his shoulder. "So… I gather your family doesn't know." 

Harry felt Louis shaking his head and heard him sigh again.

"No, it's complicated, " Louis said, voice barely audible. 

Harry started to run his right hand through Louis' hair trying to soothe him. " That's okay, I won't say anything. I swear, and I'll be here whenever you need me to."

"Always?" Louis mumbled, trying to hide his smirk.

Harry felt butterflies running wild in his belly. "Always, " he promised.

After that conversation, they stayed like that for a few minutes. Louis shared with Harry his story; how even though nobody that mattered to him knew that he liked boys, he had experienced with a few guys back in Doncaster. Guys he found in pubs outside of the area. He told Harry how he never gave his real name or his phone number, how he lost his virginity in a cheap motel room. In exchange, Harry confessed he had never really kissed a boy, and confirmed that what his mom said was true. He did have a big crush on Zayn that lasted a few months until he realized that Zayn gave Liam the same heart eyes Harry gave him, then he just decided to take a step back and put his feelings in order.

"They're like my brothers, " Harry chuckled. They were now laying side-by-side on Louis' bed, both on their backs facing the ceiling. "I genuinely felt so embarrassed when I remembered I used to like Zayn. It feels kind of wrong now."

They changed the topic shortly after that. Louis confided in him that he had been babysitting at home for the last couple of days and that if he had to watch one more Disney movie he was going to tear his eyes out. Harry laughed and teased him singing Disney songs while Louis  pretended to die, dramatically holding his ears and screaming. After laughing so much their bellies ached Harry told Louis everything about his guitar lesson, he went on and on for minutes about every single detail and Louis just heard him attentively with a smile on his face and made him promise he will play for Louis as soon as he learned to play his first song.

Harry felt like a weight was lifted off his chest. He didn’t even realize he had been that affected by their fight until now, laughing his ass out with Louis. Harry noticed at that moment how important Louis was becoming to him (and how fast).

Louis then convinced Harry to go to the nearest Tesco with him, because; ‘’ _ We need snacks to play Mario Kart at yours, Harold!’’  _ They bought a lot of chips and sweets, laughing and poking each other. The boys were on their way back to Harry’s house when Louis became serious suddenly and started to rub his hands with his thighs. Harry was confused at the change of attitude in the older boy.

‘’Everything alright Lou?’’ Harry asked, concerned.

‘’Can I ask you a question?’’ Louis asked nervously.

‘’Wow, you asking for permission is a first, it must be huge,’’ Harry tried to tease, but when he saw Louis’ awkward grimace after his answer, he backtracked. ‘’Hey, you know I’m joking, you can ask whatever you want.’’

‘’Right,‘’ Louis cleared his throat and ran his left hand through his hair, fixing his fringe. ‘’How come you’re out and proud and never had any experience with another boy?‘’

Harry choked on his spit and felt his cheeks burn. ‘’You’re not gonna like my answer, Louis, I am waiting for someone special, you know? I’ve never had someone to talk about this because the boys never question my decisions, and when I said I was bisexual that was it. No questions asked, so they never really wonder, why if I came out two years ago, never really tried with a boy-’’

‘’H, mate, your rambling and basically repeating yourself,’’ Louis interrupted. ‘’It’s okay if it’s personal and you don’t wanna talk about that,‘’ he shrugged.

‘’No, no, sorry. That happens to me a lot when I get a little nervous. I start to talk in circles and don’t even real-’’ Harry cut himself this time and cleared his throat. ‘’Okay, I think the answer to your question would be that it’s easier with girls. When I like a girl it’s nice, it’s something I can handle, It’s sweet, and kind of calm, maybe?’’ He thought for a few seconds to try to explain himself. ‘’I mean, every time I have even a little attraction for a boy it feels so overwhelming. I don’t know what to do with myself, nor how to act towards that attraction. That’s why usually when I like a boy…’’ He took a deep breath and looked at Louis in the eyes. ‘’I- I turn them down, or shove my feelings away, ‘’ he finished biting his bottom lip.

Louis' eyes veered to his lips, and he felt like time had stopped. Louis then bit his own lip and Harry’s heart felt like it was going out of his chest. 

Louis smirked and cleared his throat. ‘’Well, to me it seems that you like boys more than girls,‘’ he shrugged. ‘’But tell me, young Harold, how would you ever know that if you don’t give it a try?’’ Louis quirked an eyebrow in challenge.

Harry smirked back. ‘’Wouldn’t you want to know, hmm?’’ He winked at Louis and laughed at his shocked expression (honestly even Harry was surprised with that comeback).

Harry then decided to flee (quite literally) and screamed. ‘’The first one to get home gets to choose a character on Mario kart first!’’

he heard Louis gasp and then heard his steps getting closer. Just when he was about to reach his door Louis ran past him beating him at the last moment. Harry didn’t have time to stop when he crashed with Louis. Louis lost balance and trying to find leverage with Harry ended up dragging him on the fall. They ended up on the floor panting and laughing like crazy people.

‘’C'mon let's get in, Lou, ‘’ Harry managed to stand up and held his hand to help Louis up. 

They went in and started to play Mario Kart. Hary winning three over five races. Harry teased him relentlessly

“Maybe you need a little push to be in front, “ Harry said wiggling his eyebrows.

“Maybe I just enjoy the view from behind a little too much, “ Louis smirked, effectively leaving a flustered Harry as a result.

Later on, Harry decided to invite Jamie, since he still hadn’t had the time to hang out with him. Harry realized that once Jamie got there. Louis started to make the distance between them a little bit bigger. He was still teasing and laughing but all the handy touches were gone. Harry tried his best to understand him and not feel hurt by it.

~·~

It was a week later and the days went on on a blur. Harry spent all the free time he had with Louis, they were really getting to know each other more deeply. Harry usually caught himself memorizing little details about Louis. How he rubbed his hands, bit his nails, or fixed his fringe with his hands if he was nervous, how his mouth became a thin line and his jaw sharpened when he was mad, how he rolled his eyes fighting a smile when Harry said something cheesy or dorky, how tense he became when his parents were around in Harry’s presence, how he bit his bottom lip on his lip and woke up with a swollen slip in the morning (this was thanks to many sleepovers and a couple of times they accidentally fell asleep on the same bed). Harry also realized Louis usually used humour as a defensive mechanism, he learned about Louis Yorkshire tea obsession. He also realized Louis would receive a call every day almost at the same hour. Louis would take a call and make sure to be out of Harry’s earshot. When Harry asked about it he said  _ ‘Friends from Doncaster’  _ and left it at that.

Harry was learning fast how to play the guitar, always practising everywhere he went. He had his first lesson of songwriting and he found himself starting to write about Louis. Harry also was frequently finding himself babysitting with Louis. Lottie and Fizzy were getting used to his presence at his home and were treating him like an extension of Louis. Jamie joined them a few times when he didn’t have plans with his girlfriend.

They kept in touch with Niall, Liam and Zayn. Niall extended his stay home for another week, stating his Granny rocked and that he was having the time of his life. The other two were coming back in five days. Much to Harry’s dismay, Zayn told him that he had chickened out and didn’t make any advance on Liam yet. He understood Zayn’s worries though, they didn’t even know if Liam was attracted to boys at all. Liam didn’t know either that Zayn liked boys. Zayn was not embarrassed by how he felt at all, he was just very private and didn’t want anyone talking about his life. Harry also talked to Liam who didn’t mention anything out of the extraordinary (oblivious potato he was). Harry felt like he was living a rom-com movie through them. He’d been trying to play cupid with them for months now and he was starting to get frustrated. 

It was Saturday afternoon and Louis was ranting to Harry about a discussion he had with Mark. Louis had just landed a part-time job and his parents were asking him to babysit on his first day of work. They just asked him to call his boss to start the day after.

“I swear, H, I don’t want to come across as rude. They’re my sisters and I loved them, but they don’t take me seriously. This is my  _ first _ job!” Louis' nostrils were flaring, he was pacing in front of Harry’s couch where Harry was seated, watching him warily letting him vent. “Then mom used the ‘We all need to make sacrifices honey,’ card and I just couldn’t anymore. I had to get out of there. Mark then tried to stop me and I just shook his grip out of my arm and ran here,” Louis rubbed his face with his hands and fixed his fringe. 

“Umm… Why do you keep calling your father by his name Lou?” Harry asked, trying to distract Louis’ rage and he was also very curious about it.

Louis stopped on his tracks and looked at Harry, nose scrunched and eyebrow furrowed. “I guess we never talked about it before and that’s why you don’t know but Mark is not my father, H. My mother married him when I was four years old, I love him like a dad anyways, he raised me.” Louis shrugged.

"Does it bother you?" Harry asked, hoping he wasn't overstepping but curious nonetheless.

"Nah, not really. He left as soon as my mom told him she was pregnant, so I never met him," Louis answered, expression unreadable. "And what about you? I always hear you talk about your mom and sister but nothing about your father, so, what's the story? If you don't mind me asking."

"No, it's okay," Harry mumbled, shrugging. "My father left my mom when I was a baby. I  _ do _ know him and see him from time to time, but he has another family now so we don't really have a relationship."

It was true Harry didn't mind answering the question at all, but it still hurt though, he still resented his father, he still felt that all his weirdness and quirkiness was due to a lack of masculine figure in his family, he resented him because he got to share his time with Gemma, he taught her how to ride a bike. It was like he wasn't enough for his father, sometimes he wondered if it was him who ruined his parents’ relationship.

“My father is actually the reason I don’t believe in young everlasting love. My mom had me when she was eighteen years old. Apparently, all the promises and the love didn’t include a baby in the equation. As soon as he heard a word of mom’s pregnancy, he vanished and never had the balls to come back.” Louis' voice was charged with bitterness.

“Age it's not always the reason, Louis. My parents got married after my mom was already a doctor. They had Gemma and were pretty content until I came along. Two years later and he wanted a younger model for a woman and cero annoying kids. So believe me when I tell you that age does not determine people’s level of liability ” Harry snapped

"What's it with people and their lack of commitment?" Louis groaned frustrated.

"I promised myself that one day I'll have a family of my own," Harry said passionately, looking at the ceiling. "And I will make them feel loved, no matter what happens between me and my partner, kids should always feel wanted by their parents," Harry said and returned his gaze to Louis to find him already looking at him with an expression that he couldn't read.

There was a moment of heavy silence between them where the only sound that could be heard was their breath, Harry sighed and laid on his couch. He was about to apologize for making Louis uncomfortable when Louis clapped his hands and spoke.

"How did you realize you were into guys?" Louis asked out of nowhere.

Harry felt his face so hot he was sure it was bright red, he put the inside of his elbow on his eyes and shook his face, "Oh my god! I can't tell you that." 

Louis cackled at that, "Please, Harreee, I won't tell anyone," he said, moving Harry's arm from his face, batting his eyelashes and pouting at him.

"This is confidential information, not even Liam knows about this okay? So if it ever leaks I would know who it was," he started narrowing his eyes and pointing his index finger at Louis trying to maintain a serious expression. "So… You already know that I had a huge crush on Zayn right? Well, that’s not all. Everything started two years ago. I started to have wet dreams about Zayn, like pretty graphic ones," Harry had never talked so fast in his life, he took a deep breath, avoided Louis' gaze, not wanting to see his reaction and continued. "And as you also know I've known the boys since we were kids, which means it was totally normal for us to change our clothes without a care in the world in front of each other and... Oh lord!... I would get so flustered after the dreams started," He snorted self-deprecating. "That is how I developed the biggest crush seen in history and realized I felt very attracted to boys as well."

Only after he finished he dared to look at Louis' expression, he had to suppress a laugh biting his lips. The boy looked astonished, jaw dropped and eyebrows almost reaching his hairline. "No shit," Louis said under his breath.

Harry cleared his throat. "Mmhm… Um, your turn, is only fair you tell me you're big discovering." 

It took Louis a few seconds to recover, he fixed his hair and answered, "I'm afraid it is not as interesting and exciting as your story. I was actually fifteen years old. I noticed that I was attracted by the guys in porn, and one day decided to watch gay porn, it was like I discovered a whole new world,” Louis said mocking the Disney song, gesturing a rainbow with his hands. “Then when I turned Sixteen I made a fake ID and ventured my first pub to taste the waters." 

Harry snorted. “You’re something else, I swear.”

“It’s how I told you before, back in Doncaster they’re not as open-minded as here. I felt the need to hide, like some kind of survival instinct,” Louis chuckled humorlessly.

“I’m glad that you’re here now, then” Harry mumbled sincerely.

Harry moved when he saw that Louis wanted to sit on the couch and then placed his head on his thighs and closed his eyes. Louis started to run his hands through his hair and he felt like he was about to melt under Louis’ touch. Harry felt Louis starting to run his other hand’s fingertips through his face with feather-like touches leaving jolts of electricity on their path. He started on his forehead, above his eyebrows, he traced his nose, his cheekbones, pressed his thumbs where Harry’s dimples laid on his right cheek. Harry started to feel his heart pounding fast on his chest, an explosion of butterflies on his belly. Breathing was starting to get complicated when he felt Louis’ finger running down from his jaw to his chin.

“Stop biting your lip or I’m gonna kiss you,” Louis’ voice sounded different, deeper, harsher.

Harry snapped his eyes open and let go of his lip, not because he didn’t want to be kissed, but because Louis’ voice startled him. Louis’ eye pupils were dilated, his cheeks were light pink. That sight alone had Harry biting his bottom lip to suppress a moan. Louis' hold on his hair tightened and Harry arched his back in pleasure.

"What did I say, Harry, ?" Louis said roughly.

"Lou, " Harry pleaded. 

Harry slowly sat up, Louis' grip on his hair still tight. They were inches apart now, both staring at each other. When Harry read Louis’ question on his eyes he nodded. Louis kissed him tentatively first with a soft peck and Harry closed his eyes. Suddenly time stopped around them. There was no world or existence besides each other. The movements were slow and sweet but the electricity between them felt charged and heavy. Louis nipped his bottom lip and Harry felt the action go straight to his cock. He moaned unashamedly. Harry was overwhelmed, this was his first kiss ever with a boy. He had never felt like this before. He felt like he was hyper-aware of Louis’ every movement like they were in sync. He was very turned on for just a simple kiss, but he couldn't find it in him to feel embarrassed.

‘“Baby, “ Louis whispered.

Harry felt all goosebumps running through his spine hearing the word and let himself go deepening the kiss. Louis held the back of his neck with his free hand and pushed him in. He felt Louis’ tongue running sweetly on his bottom lip asking for entrance, he opened his mouth and the kiss got heated fast. It was too much and not enough at the same time. He knew he had  _ zero  _ experience with boys, but this kiss alone was making him doubt of his bisexuality at all. It had never felt so good to him. Harry had his hands on his side, not really knowing what to do. He felt nervous but he didn’t want to stop. Louis’ hands moved sweetly to either side of his cheeks.

“C’ mere baby, sit on my lap, “ Louis instructed.

Harry was straddling Louis after two swift movements and this time he started the kiss. He had one hand on the couch beside Louis’ head and the other on the backside of his neck, fingers running through Louis’ hair. Louis’ hands came to rest on his bum. Louis started to rut against him and when he pushed Harry’s butt cheeks against him Harry felt his dick getting some needed friction. Harry moaned and threw his head back, arching his back to feel Louis closer. Louis’ mouth started to kiss him on the neck, grazing his teeth on his shoulder.

“Haz... ” Louis moaned nipping his earlobe.

Louis' mouth continued travelling with wet kisses on Harry’s body. Harry felt like he was burning. Nobody had ever touched him like this. His head was getting dizzy from arousal. “Fuck, yes!” Harry whimpered when Louis sucked a love-bite on his collarbone. He felt Louis’ hand leave his butt and started to roam on his back. Louis’ left hand ran above the edge of Harry’s sweatpants and Harry shuddered with the implication but started to fell a little panicked. Was he ready for something like that? Louis seemed to sense his distress because instead of getting his hand in Harry’s pants, Louis ran his hand upon his front underneath his tank top. Harry whined, half disappointed and the other half from relief.

“Please, Lou, please, do something, “ Harry begged. And he wasn’t even sure what he was asking for.

“Shh, baby, easy, I’ve got you, “ Louis soothed.

Louis ran his pointer finger from Harry’s belly button to his chest and tentatively started to circle on his right nipple. Harry felt another shot of electricity through his body “Ah… Yeah,” Harry gasped. Louis raised a playful eyebrow and then pinched the already sensitive nipple and Harry felt his brain short-circuited. He felt so close to the edge already it was embarrassing.

“You like that, baby? You like when I play with your nipples?” Louis asked sweetly.

Harry wasn’t able to form coherent words anymore and just nodded dumbly. He wasn’t able to communicate that this was the first time someone ever touched him there, he didn’t even know they were sensitive before this. Harry’s train of thought halted abruptly when he felt Louis’ teeth biting the nubble over the fabric of his tank top. The sensation rough and rounding on painful. - _ The best kind of pain- _ He felt heat pooling at the bottom of his belly. “Aaaah… Lou, I- I’m gonna come. ”

“That’s okay, Haz, you can let go, “ Louis soothed, still pinching his abused nipple.

Harry felt Louis’ hot breath on his neck below his ear lobe. “Come for me, baby,” Louis whispered hotly.

And that was what pushed Harre over the edge, with a moan that resembled more a scream Harry came harder than he ever had before. He burrowed his nose on Louis’ neck and enjoyed the high of his orgasm.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Until Harry came back to himself and started to panic a little. He had shared his first kiss and orgasm with a boy. And didn’t even last that much  _ -Wait did he even come?-  _ Harry was starting to feel embarrassed and was second-guessing everything that just happened. - _ God, I came in my pants! And gave him blue balls! Nice-  _ To make matters worse this is Louis, a boy that didn’t believe in committed relationships  _ -he’s not even out of the closet. I’m just another hookup! So much for waiting for someone special- -That’s not fair-  _ Harry started to debate himself.  _ -Nothing about what just happened felt wrong- _

“I can practically hear you thinking, babe.”

Harry preened at the term of endearment and dared to look at Louis in the eyes again.

‘’ I’m sorry, ‘’ Harry mumbled.

‘’ What for, Haz?’’ Louis asked, confusion clear on his expression.

‘’ I- I- just-’’ Harry stuttered getting jittery. ‘’I came so fast I’m sorry, you didn’t even come, ‘’ He covered his face with his hands embarrassed. He never felt so young before.

Harry felt Louis’ hands on his wrists, sweetly making Harry face him. ‘’ Hey, none of that, ‘’ Louis chastised, gaze serious but sweet. ‘’ I know you don’t have a lot of experience, Haz, and that’s okay. I didn’t even expect this turn of events to be honest. ‘’

Harr let that sink in and he felt like they were walking on a fine line. It could be a great thing or their friendship could end in the trash. “What happens now?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Did you enjoy that, Haz?” Louis asked back.

Harry chewed his bottom lip and nodded shyly.

“Good, I did too. I'll tell you what; we can explore a little, I can teach you a thing or two. No strings attached. We will still be friends of course.” Louis said, gaze fixed on Harry’s eyes while he shrugged like it was no big deal.

“You know me, Louis, you know I’m not able to turn off my feelings,” Harry reasoned.

“And you know  _ me,  _ Harry, I don’t do feelings. Plus, nobody can know, you are aware that you’re the only one who knows I’m bisexual. I will teach you to let go. Live a little, Haz, don’t think about what might happen or the what-ifs, ’’ Louis said, peppering kisses on Harry’s jaw and neck.

Harry could feel his willpower crumbling. He definitely wanted to repeat what happened a few minutes ago, he also knew that this was the only way to have Louis. And between this and not having the chance to kiss him again, Harry knew what the choice was.  _ -Just don’t fall in love. Enjoy this for what it is, amazing chemistry and a good friend, that’s all- _

“If I let go, would you be there to catch me?” Harry asked coyly.

“Always, ” Louis promised.


	6. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are you two hooking up?" Niall bluntly asked, raising his eyebrows.
> 
> Harry felt his face get really hot and scrunched his nose trying to mask his smirk. It wasn't funny at all but he was feeling like laughing. He was so nervous, Niall was all laughs and fun, but it was the best of the group at reading people, especially people he cared about.
> 
> "No, I honestly, genuinely don't understand what you guys are talking about. We're obviously just friends," Harry said rolling his eyes for dramatic effect.
> 
> "Right, obviously," Niall mocked tilting his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six is here! 
> 
> I really enjoyed writting this chapter, I hope you love it as much as I do!
> 
> Warnings: There's smut in this chapter as well just FYI.
> 
> Thanks again to Joydilouis86 who's been helping me a lot! and always rooting for me.
> 
> Kudos and Comments are highly appreciated! 
> 
> Follow me on twiter @ProudOfHS_LT   
> Credits to all the owners of the pictures I used.

**_We're not, no we're not friends, nor have we ever been_ **

**_We just try to keep those secrets in a lie_ **

**_If they find out, will it all go wrong?_ **

**_And Heaven knows, no one wants it to_ **

Harry was at his guitar/writing lesson finishing the song he started a month and a half ago.  _ -It’s already been more than a month -  _ Harry was lost in thought. A lot has happened since that first kiss. Harry and Louis spent the rest of the week without the rest of the boys in sort of a frenzy. Their lips always found one another’s. It always had the same effect on Harry, he felt an explosion of butterflies in his belly, he felt that adrenaline rush constantly running through his veins like he could run a marathon all day and never get tired. It was addictive. Louis’ smell, his lips, his teeth biting Harry’s lips. The way his hands were getting more adventurous each time.

When the boys came back from their trip, it was like a bucket of ice water threw him back to reality. The bubble that they were surrounded by disappeared and they became secretive. They were not boyfriends by any means. Louis always made sure to put a little more space between them or pat him like a pet if he became too romantic. Sure, Louis was behaving a lot more affectionate with him, but it was only natural, it looked more like he was adapting to the group's dynamics. Which meant he would also hug and be sweet with the other boys. Harry didn’t know if it was a curse or a blessing, on one side he was still getting frequent hugs and cuddles, but that meant he got the exact same treatment as the other boys.

They boys, that knew Harry better than anyone, picked on the change between them. It was funny though, they all reacted the same way, waiting to be alone with Harry to “subtly” ask him about the subject.

《《 Flashback 》》 

“Babe, can I ask you a question?” Zayn asked a couple of days after they came back from his family trip. He was laying on his back on the floor, looking at the ceiling like it had all the answers.

They were at Harry’s lazing around in the living room talking about the progress (or lack of, more alike) that Zayn made with Liam. It was easy to say that Harry was disappointed and wanted to slap Liam around the head so badly. 

“Sure, Zee, what is it?” Harry demanded from the couch on his back as well.

“What happened with Louis?” Zayn asked, his tone implied no doubt about him knowing something definitely happened.

Harry was grateful at that moment that Zayn wasn’t looking at his face. He widened his eyes and felt his jaw slackened as a reaction. He almost choked with his spit looking for words  _ -Breath-  _ he repeated to himself.

“What are you talking about?” Harry played dumb.

“You seem much more closed than when we left,” Zayn started slowly, almost like he was afraid of startling Harry. “And you look at each other in a different way, like, there is a softness in his eyes when he is looking at you. I mean, you both try to cover it, that much it’s obvious. But mate, you really suck at it,” he chuckled teasing. 

“Yeah…” Harry mumbled. “We get along pretty well. When you guys left we just started to spend a lot of time together. I got to know him better, and we just sort of clicked,’’ he lied. It hurt, he felt the dirty little secret. Never before had he lied to his friends about his love life.

Zayn hummed seemingly in thought. “You know you don’t have to keep secrets from us right? We would never judge you, H,” Zayn said.

Harry had to close his eyes and press his eyelids with the tip of his finger to not cry. It felt wrong to hide it from any of the boys, they were like his brothers - _ It’s not your right to out him, he’s not ready -  _ he thought, trying to justify Louis. - _ yeah, that and he does not have romantic feelings for you, get a grip _ \- he chastised himself.

“I know, babe, you know I would tell you if something happened,” Harry said. “Now please, care to tell me when are you planning to confess your feelings to Liam?’’ he changed the subject, desperately trying to get rid of the tightness in his chest.

Zayn whined like a dying animal. “Hell, if I know. I was so close, you know? We were on this fountain, looking at this beautiful sunset, and just when I placed my head on his shoulder, ready to pour my heart out…” He grunted like the mere memory of the situation got on his nerves. “He gave me the ‘ _ you’re my best friend’  _ speech, went on and on for minutes about how we wanted me to be part of his life forever, and our group being a family and blah blah blah…” Zayn ranted.

“Did he explicitly call you ‘brother’?" Harry asked, covering his face afraid of the answer.

“No, not with those exact words,” Zayn rushed.

“Good, there is hope there then,” Harry smiled, throwing a cushion right at Zayn’s head. The mood was immediately lighter than before.

A week later it was Liam who approached him. They were on their way to pick up Niall from the airport, who finally found his sneaky way back to London without his parents. Liam was driving his parent’s car. They had the windows down, enjoying the breeze running through their hair. Harry was singing his heart out to the radio.  _ Just the way you are by - Bruno Mars  _ was playing and he had to admit to himself that he had a particular someone on his head while singing. 

“H, um, I need to ask you something,” Liam said in the middle of the chorus, turning down the volume.

Harry hummed in acknowledgment, feeling busted for some strange reason. 

“Are you and Louis dating?” Liam blurted all in one go.

This time it was so sudden that Harry was not able to hide his shock. “Ho- Who- What?!” Harry squealed, definitely sounding like a ten years old boy.

“You heard me,” Liam pressed.

“No, no, no, Li, what the fuck?’’ Harry decided to play his shock as if the idea was ridiculous instead of looking like someone found him with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Looked, I had to ask. You look at him like he farts flowers and sweats lemonade,” Liam explained.

Harry scrunched his face in disgust. “Okay, first of all, eww, Li,” He made a gagging sound to emphasize his point. “Second of all, that doesn’t make any sense! And third,” He continued, pointing his fingers at the same time. “we are friends, more than that, we are becoming best friends, he trusts me, I trust him. No double meaning. Do you genuinely believe that we’re dating?” Harry asked like it was the most outrageous thing to ask. It was getting harder for him. Each passing day when he had to suppress the impulse to kiss Louis, or run his hands through his hair, or just dip his nose on the crook of his neck, he would feel dirtier, kind of unworthy. It always vanished when they were alone though. Louis treated him like there was nobody else but them in the world, he would make him feel so special. He was always tender, sweet, and patient.

Liam seemed to be lost in thought for a moment and then sighed. “You’re right, I guess Louis wouldn’t do that…” Liam said. And Harry felt lost, didn’t understand why would Liam said something like that - _ because he’s ‘Straight’ you utter imbecile-  _ he metaphorically slapped himself around the head. He had to shake himself out of the trance to focus on what Liam was saying. “..Kay? Just promise me you won't get your hopes up with him, don’t see him like something more than a friend, H, because it won’t work,” Liam said, voice stern. 

Harry felt like he missed an important part of Liam’s statement, but he didn’t want to bring more attention to the matter so he let it be. “Sure, I promise, Li,” He answered curtly.

Niall had to be the most indiscreet of them all. A few days later after he returned they were all at Niall's house enjoying the pool and a warm day of summer. They were all in the pool drinking beer and talking animatedly when Harry felt Niall grabbed his arm and pulled him apart from the rest.

"Are you two hooking up?" Niall bluntly asked, raising his eyebrows.

Harry felt his face get really hot and scrunched his nose trying to mask his smirk. It wasn't funny at all but he was feeling like laughing. He was so nervous, Niall was all laughs and fun, but it was the best of the group at reading people, especially people he cared about.

"No, I honestly, genuinely don't understand what you guys are talking about. We're obviously just friends," Harry said rolling his eyes for dramatic effect.

"Right, obviously," Niall mocked tilting his head. They had a staring contest and then Niall sighed and shrugged. "Who wants to play water polo?" He yelled, turning around.

And that was that.

《《 》》

**_So I could take the back road_ **

**_But your eyes will lead me straight back home_ **

**_And if you know me like I know you_ **

**_You should love me, you should know_ **

**_Friends just sleep in another bed_ **

**_And friends don't treat me like you do_ **

"You missed a bit there, H, pay attention to the placement of your hand on the guitar," Ed's voice brought him back to the present.

"Yeah, sorry mate, I keep messing this part of the song," Harry sighed frustrated.

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself, you have real talent, Harry, this song is beautiful," Ed nudged him with his shoulder 

"Yeah, thanks to you. I rambled about my love life to you and you translated it along, this is not my merit, Ed," Harry insisted earnestly.

"Bulshit, we did this together, H," Ed laughed, patting him in the back.

Harry had confided everything that was going on with Louis to Ed. It was safe since he didn't know any of the boys and it felt right because he didn't patronize him as the other boys, he treated him like an equal. Always provided his opinion which usually was  _ "I don't know, mate, is it worth it? Does your time alone with him compensate every time you have to suppress how you feel in front of the others? And more importantly, do you see it going anywhere? In the end, it's only your decision."  _

The lines were getting blurry and confusing. They were sleeping together more often than not. Louis was sneaking out of his house almost daily to sleep at Harry's. The nights that his mother had night shifts were the best since they could be properly cuddly everywhere. Harry could feel himself falling in love, but every time he tried to confront Louis about it he would dismiss him entirely.

《《 Flashback 》》

They were on Harry's bed. Louis was straddling Harry's hips, he had him pinned to the bed, holding Harry's hands with one of his extended above his head, his other hand was in a tight grip on Harry's curly hair. The kiss was heated, but slow. Harry felt like he was on fire, Louis was teasing him, not letting him touch, kissing him slowly, languidly, making it hard to breathe, hard to think. They were getting better at this, Louis was getting better at reading Harry's limits and was expertly pushing just a little bit more every day, sometimes he would be the one to stop altogether, leaving Harry desperate to continue, and begging for just a little more. They hadn't seen each other completely naked yet, Harry still had his doubts. They were getting closer though. Currently, they were both only on their briefs, dry humping.

"Please, Haz, let me touch you," Louis pleaded while peppering wet kisses on Harry's neck.

Moments like this we're not common, Louis usually didn't beg, he would usually be calm and collected. He would usually try, oh so gently, to touch him and drop it when Harry started to shake his head anxiously. Harry felt a spark of pleasure just knowing how much Louis was getting affected by this, and surprisingly that was all the encouragement he needed to go a little bit further. 

"Yeah, touch me, Lou," Harry moaned.

Louis stilled for a moment as if he wasn't expecting that answer. He looked at Harry right in the eyes and without asking for a second time, he let go of Harry's and groped his groin, pressing the heel of his hand to his dick. It was the first time a hand that wasn't his was touching him there. The sensation made him roll his eyes, bit his bottom lip, and throw his head back to the bead moaning.

"You're so responsive, God, so obscene, so beautiful, baby," Louis gasped in awe. 

Those words made Harry feel his lit leaking pre-come wetting his briefs. He started to feel overwhelmed, started to overthink  _ -you don't mean it-  _ he thought, but didn't say  _ -at least not beautiful enough to be your boyfriend, I guess-  _ He started to feel his eyes welling with tears.  _ -God, you're such a baby, control yourself-.  _ Then he felt Louis' hand sneaking into his boxers and his thumb pressing on his slit. His mind white-out for a few seconds with the intensity of the skin-to-skin sensation. All of his doubts about a hand that doesn’t belong to him on his dick long gone. He felt a rush of adrenaline and suddenly, he wanted more.

"Let me touch you, Lou, please," Harry dared to ask.

Louis chuckled. "So polite, baby. Be patient, love, we walk before we run."

Harry rolled his eyes frustrated.

"Do not roll your eyes at me, Harry, or I will stop and I won’t let you come," Louis reprimanded sternly.

Harry felt embarrassed and for some reason, he didn’t quite understand very aroused. "'M sorry, sorry, please don’t stop," As the time passed, they were getting more confident with each other and they started to mould one another as well. Harry learned that he liked to be told what he was allowed to do and what not, and Louis seemed to be more than okay with that. They hadn’t discussed it, it just kind of happened.

Just a few minutes after Harry was coming with his pants still on. He hadn’t made Louis come yet, Louis would always go to the bathroom and finish himself. He always felt useless and embarrassed but didn’t press on the subject. He was slowly gaining confidence sexually and a part of himself was grateful that Louis didn’t pressure Harry to make him come. After Louis came from the bathroom Harry sat on the bed nervously running hands through his hair.

"Lou, I need to tell you something," Harry mumbled out of breath.

Louis looked at him with what Harry only could read was fondness, "Sure, Haz, what is it?"

"I- I can’t control my feelings, Lou," Harry took a deep breath and couldn’t maintain eye contact. "I’m falling for you."

Harry heard Loui’s breath hitching but when he looked him in the eyes again his facial expression wasn’t giving anything away.

"No, you're not," Louis said calmly, he took a deep breath and looked straight into Harry's eyes without wavering. "H, don't confuse good chemistry with love. You don't know me enough to really love me. We have a good time, we laugh and enjoy each other's company. Add that to the fact that there is crazy chemistry between us and I can understand you can misread what you feel," Louis continued with a small smile.

Harry was getting more and more frustrated with each word. "Stop telling me how I feel, Louis, I am my own person. I might be younger than you but I still know what I feel. I-"

"Stop it, Harry, you're overthinking again!" Louis snapped. "Yes, of course, there are feelings. We are practically tied to the hip, we get along, we have a lot of things in common, we care about each other. I'm not that thick, I can't admit to you and to myself there are feelings growing between us. Thing is, Haz, we don't always have to act on our feelings, we don't need a label, we don't need strings. We're fucking teenagers for god's sake!" At the end of his rant, Louis was pacing in front of Harry's bed, running his hands wildly through his fringe.

Harry was hyperventilating, his lips were wobbling, his eyes were moistened with tears he couldn't contain. He was confused, was Louis just confessing his feelings for him? But at the same time, why was Louis so against the idea of Harry falling for him? Why was that such a bad idea? 

"Hey, babe, please don't cry. I don't want to hurt you. Please, Haz, don't think about it anymore. Let go. I'm not asking you not to feel. Just don't complicate the situation. We are friends, special friends that care a lot about each other. Could you please, please, leave it at that?" Louis pleaded, holding Harry's face with his hands. He looked desperate like he was on the verge of bolting and never coming back if Hardy didn't agree with him.

Harry shut his eyes and took a deep puff of air trying to collect himself and swallowed his feelings. "Okay, I will drop it. You won't hear a beep about that anymore." 

Louis relaxed immediately and smiled. He gave Harry a peck and exhaled. "Thank you."

《《 》》

**_Well I know that there's a limit to everything_ **

**_But my friends won't love me like you_ **

**_No, my friends won't love me like you_ **

**_We're not friends, we could be anything_ **

**_If we try to keep those secrets safe_ **

**_No one will find out if it all went wrong_ **

**_They'll never know what we've been through_ **

Love, when did Harry start to describe how Louis treated him as 'love'? Harry was getting tired of being a secret, of hiding. He was used to being open and not afraid to show who he liked. They were approaching the end of summer vacation and classes were starting in a couple of weeks. He hasn't mentioned the subject anymore with Louis since he practically begged him to let it go, but he really wanted to know what was gonna happen when classes began. Would they continue their 'affair' or would they stop? They would definitely need more time to study since it was Louis' last year. Would he leave the country? Would he search for uni near home? Would he just find a job?  _ -God! Would you just stop overthinking! Classes haven't even started!-  _ a voice that was very similar to Louis' screamed at him, he metaphorically slapped himself.  _ -Ugh, he is right, I'm thinking a year ahead of myself and we're not even boyfriends-  _

A clap in front of his face brought him back to reality.

"H! Men you've been singing the same bridge on a loop for a couple of minutes," Ed said with a knowing smile. "Hey, that's not fair. I'm your friend and I know what you've been through. I feel like I know him already," he winked at Harry trying to lighten the mood.

"But that's the problem innit? I mean, the only reason you know about him at all is because you don't know him, otherwise, I would feel like I'm betraying him," Harry complained. "And isn't that ironic? Avoid at all costs to betray your  _ not  _ boyfriend?" He rubbed his hands on his face. "Ed, you're older than me, and you're always brutally honest. Am I being too dramatic?" Harry asked.

Ed squinted his eyes at Harry and scrunched his nose. "Okay, I'll be honest with you, from how I see it you have two options, either you learn to let the worries go and live the moment when you're with him or you stop it altogether. Honestly, men, you can be very mature when you want to, but you're kind of behaving like a kid. You can't always get what you want. You can't force Louis to be your boyfriend, so, are you going to take what he is willing to give and accept it? Or are you going to cut the shit and stop this weird in-between you have?" Ed had a serious expression on his face, not mean, but serious enough to make his words cut a little deeper.

The thing was that Harry didn't think it was that easy. It was not only sexual, it was not only about their chemistry either. There were things he didn't even tell Ed, because of how intimate they felt.

《《 Flashback 》》

They were in Harry's backyard, laying on their backs having a beer, one's shoulders next to rubbing against the other's. The night was warm but there was a light breeze that made it perfect. There was a full moon in the starry sky. They were enjoying a moment of silence after having a round of laughter. Harry was still giggling, his belly ached because of it, but he was so happy and giddy.

"The moon is beautiful tonight don't ya think?" Louis said, his smile present in his voice.

"Do you see the bunny on the moon?" Harry asked.

Louis chuckled, "What?"

"The bunny…" Harry repeated, pointing to the sky. "There's a myth that says that if you see the figure of a bunny in the moon it means you're in love, so you can always remember your loved one while looking at it, even if you're not with them," Harry explained, gesturing with his hand on the air. 

Louis hummed but stayed silent. For a moment Harry thought he screwed the moment up, but when he turned to look at Louis he was squinting his eyes and tilting his head looking at the moon. "Do you see it?" Louis asked, finally turning to look at Harry. 

"Yeah, look," Harry said leaning closer to Louis and pointing his hand to the sky above them "that is the tail over there, you can see he's standing on his back paws, and those are his ears," Harry described while signalling the figure he was able to see and then turned back to look at Louis who was already looking at him.

"It's a  _ he _ then?" Louis asked, teasing.

"For me, it is at least," Harry mumbled, shrugging. He could feel himself blush.

Louis turned his gaze back to the moon and smiled. "Yeah, I can see it," he murmured so low that Harry barely heard the words. 

“So, apart from bunnies on the moon, is there something else that leads you to that happily ever after?” Louis asked with a teasing tone.

Harry hummed lowly and thought for a few minutes. "There’s a myth, but you’ll probably think that is cheesy or delusional," he mumbled bashfully.

"Oh, come off it, Haz, since when has that stopped you from sharing things with me," Louis teased, poking his fingertips on Harry’s belly.

Harry started to squirm and laughed out loud. "O-o S-stop! Okay, Okay I’ll tell you, I surrender. Please, stop, Loueeeh!" He was out of breath and there were tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. He felt unreal for a moment, like so much happiness was only possible in his dreams.

Louis stopped tickling him and slapped him on the chest softly. "Go on then, I’m all ears, babe."

Harry took a deep breath. "Well, I once saw this movie based on this myth, called ‘The Red Thread of Fate.’  It's an East Asian belief originating from  Chinese mythology, and  is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another; usually according to the myth they meet each other at a young age as they are 'their true love,'" he mumbled shyly. 

He looked at Louis then and saw him make a gesture for him to continue. "So, what this ancient belief preaches is that the two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. An old wise man would show up to one of them one night with a full moon like this," Harry pointed to the moon. "And show them who their other half was,"  Harry sighed dreamily. "T his magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the western  concept of soulmate or a destined partner, but it's so much better in a way, cause you always hear cases of people being soulmates but things still not working out for them. According to this Chinese belief, there are no 'what ifs' when someone is meant to be with you, you'll end up together, sooner or later."

"So, you’re telling me that you believe that there is someone out there destined to be with you," Louis asked looking sceptical. "What happens if one the ‘soulmates’ has no interest in being attached to the other for the rest of their lives?"

"I believe that there is someone so right for me it won’t matter if they run, hide or what the circumstance might be, we will end up together because we are meant to be together period," Harry said passionately. "I actually did some research, and found some stories that recount how sometimes, one of the two destined lovers would run and reject what was written for them, only to realize years later that they ended up fulfilling their destiny."

"Wow, you should really have someone writing stories about you, love, your faith in love is literally poetic," Louis whispered seemingly in awe.

Harry felt a warm spreading on his chest. It was moments like this that made him believe that he wasn't alone in this, that he was special to Louis even if he didn't want tags to label their relationship. 

"You're so special, Hazza," Louis said after a moment like he was reading his thoughts. "You really deserve your Prince Charming, or your Princess- whichever you prefer," he chuckled, but it sounded kind of sad.

_ -I want you-  _ Harry thought but didn't say. "I'm starting to think that fairy tales are overrated," he said instead, looking at Louis' profile.

Louis turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. He looked surprised. "Do you, now?" he smirked and shook his head. Harry was certain that he knew his statement had everything to do with him.

Harry shrugged. "Someone I know told me I'm too young to have one, and that I should take more risks in life. I'm trying to listen."

"Very wise man, may I add," Louis smiled smugly.

Harry giggled and they stayed silent after that for a while.

"You're special too, you know that right?" Harry emphasised. "You deserve everything, Lou. You're kind, sweet, gentle, such a good brother. A good person all around," he said earnestly, looking at Louis' eyes. He saw Louis blush for the first time since he met him and it felt like such an achievement Harry wanted to do a celebratory dance. 

"I always feel like that when it's just you and me," Louis answered. 

It was Harry's turn to blush. "Always?" He asked, smirking.

"Always," Louis smiled and propped up on his elbows to give Harry a kiss.

《《 》》

**_So I could take the back road_ **

**_But your eyes will lead me straight back home_ **

**_And if you know me like I know you_ **

**_You should love me, you should know_ **

**_Friends just sleep in another bed_ **

**_And friends don't treat me like you do_ **

**_Well I know that there's a limit to everything_ **

**_But my friends won't love me like you_ **

**_No, my friends won't love me like you_ **

**_But then again, if we're not friends_ **

**_Someone else might love you, too_ **

**_And then again, if we're not friends_ **

**_There'd be nothing I could do, and that's why_ **

**_Friends should sleep in other beds_ **

**_And friends shouldn't kiss me like you do_ **

**_And I know that there's a limit to everything_ **

**_But my friends won't love me like you_ **

**_No, my friends won't love me like you do_ **

**_Oh, my friends will never love me like you_ **

**__ **

~·~

They were in the middle of September. Two weeks after classes started. Harry and the boys weren’t able to get together every day. It was alright they were used to it. Harry had his little group of friends that he usually hanged around during school time, nothing like the family he had with the others, but enough for him not to feel alone. Things with Louis were… weird… They were not able to see each other that often either. Since they went back to school they had been alone just twice, one per week. Harry was going mad, he felt like he was going through some kind of withdrawal that he couldn’t control. But there was nothing that they could do about it. Louis turned to be the new goalie of their football team (surprising no one) which meant that he had practice Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after school. Harry was still having guitar lessons on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays after school. The scheduling problem was obvious. They were only able to see each other Friday nights after Louis’ football practice because Louis disappeared both weekends without an explanation. 

Harry was currently on his lunch break. Monday of week three of school, Harry was munching on a hamburger while talking to Hailee who was next to him about their History project. He suddenly felt someone sitting on his other side then a hand was ruffling his hair and arm and got him into a headlock. He choked with his food and started to cough.

“Shit, Harry, I’m sorry!” Niall screamed patting him on the back.

Harry’s eyes watered but he was able to recover his breath. He looked around him then and saw that it wasn’t just Niall next to him. Zayn and Liam were in front of him, Louis sat next to Hailee, and Jamie was beside Niall. He cleared his throat, took a sip of his soda, and greeted all the boys, as always Louis was his usual  _ ‘I low key ignore you’  _ self which was normal giving the place and the people they were surrounded by. It didn’t make it hurt any less, though. 

"I’m okay, Ni, don’t worry." Harry managed a smile and gave Niall a one-arm hug.

"Hey, Niall," Hailee greeted, she fluttered her eyelashes in a flirty way. 

Harry saw Niall blushed and quirked an eyebrow  _ -Well, this is interesting-  _ Harry thought amused. 

They continued the conversation for a few minutes and Harry found himself observing his friend closely. Hailee and Niall were flirting shamelessly. Zayn looked sulky and was keeping to himself. Liam was smiling every now and then like he remembered something that made him feel happy. Louis was looking anywhere but at him. Jamie was looking at Liam with a smirk and… wait … Harry looked between them and was growing curious.

"What are you up to, Li?" voiced Harry.

Zayn literally facepalmed like Harry just said something really stupid and that confused him. When he looked at Liam, he was suddenly very focussed on his food.

"Oh, I know what Liam’s up to," Jamie said, wiggling his eyebrows, amusement laced his voice.

"Well?" Harry asked impatiently, raising his eyebrows.

"Sophia, from Lit gave him his phone number," Jamie sing-sang.

And- well, shit, Harry did not expect this turn of events. It made sense now why Zayn was looking so sad. Harry wanted to kill Liam for being so damn blind and wanted to kill Zayn for not making a move sooner. God, he felt like he had to slap them both to force some sense into them. He was about to make a comment, probably to voice how outrageous it was for Liam to date someone who it wasn’t Zayn when someone kicked him on his calve. His gaze immediately found Louis looking at him wide-eyed. He understood the warning as a ‘ _ zip it Harry, it is not the right moment!’ _ , because they were weird like that, they were able to have a silent conversation without anyone realizing. Just a few seconds after, the bell rang and Zayn bolted out of the table. Nobody else but Harry noticed Zayn’s reaction though except for maybe Louis who was looking to the direction Zayn had bolted to. 

"Well, see you later, lads," Louis said and took Liam with him and left.

That week on Friday Louis and Harry were laying on Harry’s bed. Harry had his head on Louis’ chest while the older boy ran his fingers through his hair. They hadn’t even got off that night, it felt like none of them were in the mood.

"Babe, are you dating other people?" Louis asked after a long pause of silence.

Harry felt cold with that question but tried not to overthink. "Of course not, Lou," ...Silence… "Wait, are you?" he asked nervously.

"Harry, you do know that we are not in a committed relationship right? You can date whoever you want," was Louis' response, his voice sounded strained and mechanical.

"I am aware of our status, not that you ever let me forget it," Hary bit out. "But no, Louis, I don’t even have the time to see someone else, honestly," he added, pretending it didn't kill him to see how little Louis cared if someone else touched him.

Louis hummed for a few seconds. "You have to stop trying to get Liam and Zayn together, babe," Louis blurted out of nowhere and throw Harry off.

Harry froze confused and raised his head to look Louis in the eyes. "Wha- Why?" he asked bemused.

"Harry you don’t even know if Liam is gay, or attracted to Zayn, at all," Louis said. "Stop meddling in other's lives, Harry. Not everybody is gay. There is such a thing as unrequited love, just- could you let them deal with their story themselves?" Louis ranted.

Harry scrunched his face in confusion. He didn’t like Louis’ choice of words. "What the hell is your problem, Louis, those are  _ my  _ friends, I know them better than anyone, I wouldn't tell Zayn to go after Li if I wouldn't think he has a chance. And sorry, but I  _ do _ believe everybody is a little bit gay, so sue me for wanting a happy ending for my friends!" He seethed. He was now sitting cross-legged looking directly at Louis's eyes trying to get his point across. "Stop trying to change me, you do not dictate by any means what I do or stop doing with the people I love, do I make myself clear, Louis?" Harry asked roughly. 

A look of something that Harry was too angry to try to understand passed through Louis’ face. They stayed quiet for a couple of minutes and then Louis bit his bottom lip and exhaled heavily. His gaze got fixed on his lap when he spoke. "I’m sorry, Haz, you’re right. I just- I-" Louis stuttered and took a deep breath. "I don’t even understand why I just said what I said okay? I saw Liam so happy when Sophia gave him her number that I guess I kind of convinced myself Zayn has no chance."

"Yeah, I understand what you mean," Harry sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "It’s not like I’m doing much anyway. I barely see them on weekends because of homework," he shrugged. "But I will talk to Zayn and check how he is feeling. And maybe advice to confront and deal with the consequences, or to just let it go and look somewhere else."

Louis gave Harry a small smile and said. "Yeah, you’re right, he should at least try."

Harry ran his fingers slowly through Louis’ fringe. "Hey, baby, It’s okay. I’m sorry if I flipped out," he leaned and gave Louis an Eskimo kiss, successfully lightening the mood.

"I’m sorry too, Haz," Louis answered before he closed the distance and went for a real kiss. Making Harry forget why he was angry in the first place.

Weeks turned to months and things took a turn Harry didn’t expect. Niall had started to date Hailee. They were smitten for each other and were fans of PDA. Harry never thought he was going to see Niall’s tongue so much and shortly realized he didn’t want to either. Liam had started dating Sophia because Zayn -of course- didn’t take his advice saying  _ ‘It's not that easy, H, if I confess and lose him, I will be losing my childhood best friend as well.’ _ And well, Harry had no argument to that. Zayn had started to hang out with others as well, seemingly unable to be around Liam and Sophia who were more discrete but also really cute if Harry was being honest if you asked him it was another way to lose him anyway, but he was not going to judge his friend. Liam on his end was spending more and more time with Louis, and it wasn’t that Harry was jealous… Okay, yes… Harry was so so so jealous he wanted to punch Liam and ask him to let him have time with his boyfriend  _ -Not your boyfriend-  _ he was getting frustrated of this fucking type of mantra he had to repeat himself.

Needless to say that things between Louis and Harry were kind of the same. They had ups and downs. Sometimes Louis would bail on Harry to spend time with Liam. But there were weekends where Louis would surprise him and would give Harry his undivided attention the entire weekend. Those were the days' Harry lived for. For him, there was no doubt, this feeling in his chest had to be love. He was scared shitless, and so so confused because every time he tried so much as having a conversation with Louis about feelings he would get defensive and belittle Harry’s love for _‘relationship titles’_ \- Louis’ words not Harry’s -. Harry was frustrated and felt like he was getting to the end of his rope. But every time Harry convinced himself to end the ‘with benefits’ part of their friendship before he was able to mutter a word out, Louis would do something that made him change his mind, like buying a necklace with a beautiful golden paper aeroplane pendant, or giving him a rose out of the blue, or giving him his first blowjob ever and make him come his brains out rendering him stupid. So, yeah, Harry felt trapped. He was continuously on a loop of _‘I can’t keep going on with him like this’_ and _‘I can’t ever leave him’_ thoughts. Of one thing he was convinced though, he had to do something.

~·~

Christmas break had already started and with it, the boys were spending every minute of it together as it was tradition. Niall and Hailee were still together but she travelled with her family for Christmas so he was back to his normal not-sharing-fluids-self. Zayn seemed to be able to tolerate a little bit more Sophia’s presence and confessed to Harry that he missed them like crazy so he got a grip and swallowed his feelings. Liam and Sophia had an okay relationship. Liam and Harry had a few sleepovers and Liam updated Harry all he missed during their weird separated time during class. Maybe Harry was biased but he found Liam’s relationship so boring. They would never fight, never have adventures. Every time Harry observed them he came to the same conclusion they were not madly in love with each other. They got along well enough and cared for each other. But that was it. 

Harry had a plan. Well, Ed helped a lot, but it was his plan nonetheless. Louis and Harry were seeing each other more often as time passed. They were getting more affectionate in front of the other boys as well. Harry knew that the other boys just took it as a sign of them getting along better but it still gave him hope. So he decided to take a leap of faith. He organized a birthday party with the help of the boys. He arranged everything with Jay, so his family would be involved as well. The day before his birthday (because they were still teenagers and they had families, which meant they could not spend Christmas Eve with friends) they were going to distract him by taking him ‘last-minute shopping' to the mall, and Harry and the rest would decorate the Tomlinson's living room and wait for them to surprise him. What he didn’t tell anyone was that he was going to sing the song he wrote to Louis. He would make it look like a coincidence, of course, he wasn’t about to out Louis on his birthday in front of his family and friends. But he wanted Louis to understand, that he loved him and that he couldn’t continue like this.

Today was the day, they were already decorating the living room. Lottie and Fizzy were helping paint Happy birthday posters with collages and hearts. Jamie was in charge of foods and drinks (alcohol was allowed since it was Louis’ 18 birthday) Zayn was in charge of the music as always, Liam went to the mall with Mark and Louis to be able to alert the others when they were on their way. Luckily for Zayn, Sophia had another plan which meant he didn’t have to worry about having to fake a smile for everyone’s sake. They ended up agreeing to just make it a small get together since Louis’ new twin sisters were just a month old and the Tomlinson Household was not a place for loud music or big crows at the moment.

"What can I do to help Harry?" Johannah startled Harry from his internal panicking.

"Oh no, Jay, please, nothing. Please rest. You've done enough letting us do this here. Really we appreciate it," Harry answered.

"Darling, it was no problem at all, thank you for helping me not to let Louis’ birthday go unnoticed. With the newborns and all the Christmas stuff it was really hard to do something special for him this year," She looked Harry in the eyes and he saw that she was genuinely sad about it.

"No worries, it is our pleasure," Harry smiled trying to soothe her.

She gave him a tight hug and whispered to him."Thank you."

The night progressed. Mark, Liam, and Louis arrived and everyone else in the house hid and screamed ‘surprise!’ when they entered the threshold. Louis screeched releasing a very high pitch sound that immediately woke up the babies and made everyone laugh like crazy. Everyone greeted him, gave him hugs and gifts. A few minutes later they turned on the music in a low volume and started drinking and laughing around.

_ -Well, this is it. This is the moment- _ Harry told himself a couple of hours later. Mark had gone out somewhere and Jay was upstairs nursing the babies. 

"Guys, I don’t want to steal Louis’ thunder but, hmmm. I-I finished my first song, And I wanted to show you the result because I really like it." Harry mumbled. 

Harry saw Louis' face light up brighter than the Christmas tree that was on the right corner of his living room.

"No hard feelings at all, Haz! I will take it as a gift even!" Louis said excitedly, he was definitely tipsy.

The rest of the boys and the girls also seemed intrigued by Harry’s song and encouraged him to sing it to everyone.

Harry took his guitar and sat on the couch with everyone in front of him sitting cross-legged. Harry felt like he was singing to his first crow and that made a type of adrenaline he never felt before running through his veins. He took a deep breath and started to sing. 

He sang. He put his heart out there in the line. He stripped himself raw for Louis to take care of. He made himself vulnerable. He was able to catch that since the first moment Louis noticed the song was about him. Harry’s eyes were trained to Louis’ like he needed to look at him to breathe and continue existing, like time was holding still and nobody was around them. He was not aware of the girls and Jamie swaying their heads with the rhythm of the song, of Niall squinting his eyes and looking from Harry to Louis repetitively, of Zayn looking at Liam kind of relating to the words in the song, of Liam’s lost gaze not really looking at anyone.

When the song ended and he put his guitar next to him the door slammed open revealing Mark's return with a brunette girl Harry swore he had seen before.

"Surprise, honey!" the girl shouted and ran to tackle Louis to the ground. "Happy birthday!" she exclaimed and then proceeded to kiss him square on the lips.

And Harry could feel his heart stopping. 

**Author's Note:**

> Give me your thoughts


End file.
